Code Geass: The Game of Kings
by Lord Bear
Summary: The lines between player and piece have become blurred with the scars of sacrifice; the world destined to descend into even greater chaos as two enemies return to the board to rearrange their pieces. Sometimes, nobody knows who the enemy King truly is.
1. Phase 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Geass and am in no way profiting off this piece.

**WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS TO FINAL EPISODE OF CODE GEASS R2. DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER (OR ANY OTHER PART OF THIS FIC) IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE ENTIRE SERIES! SPOILERS WILL BEGIN IMMEDIATELY!**

Important: All Author Notes in this story will be VITAL to understanding it. Skipping them will likely result in a far less enjoyable read.

**A/N: Hello and welcome to ****Code Geass: The Game of Kings. This is my second foray into the world of fanfiction authoring; the first being my currently in-progress Naruto fic ****"The Greatest Shinobi War****." ****I have uploaded 86,000 words to it in about two months, which I hope to somewhat replicate for this, although taking into account having two fics will extend that somewhat. I mention this to give you a rough idea about what you can expect from me in terms of upload times and length.**

**I apologise in advance for the extensive amount of author notes in this chapter. I'd like to be able to get everything of major importance out of the way in one fell swoop so my future chapters can focus more on the story and less on the author notes.**

**1. Continuity Issues ****– As this is a post-R2 Code Geass fic, it has been HELL trying to work my way around these setbacks for a series which has been wrapped up so completely (although some would disagree on Lelouch's fate – I personally don't subscribe to the 'he's alive and the creator is just trying to trick us' theories).**

**I've done my absolute best to avoid any errors in this field, although it's possible that I will make a mistake at some point. If this happens, I ask you, as readers, to please bear with me; I will do my best to fix the error, but if it's too deep in the plot, I'll have to ask that you just rearrange canon in your mind and accept that what I said happened in it (for the purposes of this fic lol)**

**Code Geass is far more complicated than your average series (Harry Potter, Naruto, Dragonball, etc), and as such the readers may not understand why certain things happen or why people say certain things until the reasoning is revealed much later. Sometimes when the reader is not given enough information immediately to understand some part of the story, they assume that a continuity mistake has been made. If you believe you've noticed one of these, feel free to mention it in a review, but please try to put it as a question ("What would motivate _ to do _?") rather than a flame due to the likelihood that the reasoning will be later explained. :)**

**2. Honorifics ****– I will rarely use any honorifics in this fic. Exceptions will be made occasionally for someone referring to Zero as "Zero-sama," and to Nunnally referring to Lelouch as "Oniisama"**

**3. Flashbacks ****– All flashbacks will be in the 3rd****person. This means that their scope will not be limited to what the character concerned witnesses.**

**4. Chapter Length ****– I will endeavour to make every chapter approximately 5,000 words without including the author notes. Sometimes it will drift down to 4,000 and other times I have been known to write up to 7,000. I feel any less or more doesn't allow me to create the tension that 5,000 word chapters are capable of.**

**5. ****Phase One** ******–**** This fic takes over from canon during the middle of the final episode of R2. As such, the epilogue never happened. The reason I used a lot of the canon dialogue (although I did make a number of my own changes/additions) in this chapter is to create a seamless transition through from canon to my plot. You can rest assured that the story will never follow canon again, simply because…well…after this chapter there will be no more canon left to follow! =P**

**I apologise again for the 600 word author notes (lol), hopefully now I won't have to deal with them as much as the story progresses.**

**Here is Phase One of ****Code Geass: The Game of Kings****!**

* * *

**2018 a.t.b.**

**Britannian Holding Cells**

"I don't believe it!" Tamaki screamed, slamming his elbow into the bulletproof glass wall which made up one side of the cell housing the Black Knights' core group; those who were closest to Lelouch. "He was supposed to be my best bud! Why, Zero?"

"It doesn't matter now." Kallen's voice was hollow and distant.

Tamaki looked up and glared at her piercingly. "Why doesn't it matter? What happened to 'Knights of Justice'? What happened to defending those without weapons?"

"It's over, Tamaki!" she snapped, eyes burning with rage. "It's over! Lelouch won…he used us…he used us all!"

"Don't get all high and mighty with me, Kallen! You fell for it too," he barked, emotions clouding his judgement as he tore into his distraught friend.

"Shut up…" Kallen murmured softly, gazing upwards at nothing as a tear made its way down her cheek. Hands shaking, she fidgeted with the material around her kneecaps.

"He destroyed us!"

"Stop it…" she repeated, speaking not to Tamaki but to the ceiling of the cell, Lelouch's arrogant smirk appearing for just a moment as if to taunt her.

"He fooled everyone! Even you…_Q-1_," Tamaki spat venomously at her, drawing gasps of shock from the other Black Knights sharing their cells; two of their elite had never turned on one another so maliciously.

A brutal blow to the jaw cut him off, dislocating it and forcing the back of his head to slam into the cell wall with a sickening crunch. Kallen rained blow after blow on him relentlessly, her hands still bound together by the metal casings which had been used to restrict them when they were captured.

Nobody moved to stop her, nor did they move to calm her down. Tears streaked down her face as she sobbed and continued to slam her bound fists into his face; his nose had long since been crushed and blood covered his unconscious features.

Finally she collapsed on his chest, coming to her senses and frantically attempting to wipe the blood off him. Her nails scratched her face as she panicked and reached up to haphazardly clear away her tears, Tamaki's blood becoming diluted by the clear liquid and joining it in streaming down her face.

Her comrades looked on despondently; if Kallen Kōzuki – ace pilot and Zero…no…Lelouch's right hand – had degenerated to such a state, then there truly was no hope for the rest of them. Ōgi in particular felt his heart clench at the sight.

_'I couldn't protect her…I couldn't…forgive me, Naoto…'_

The sound of footsteps approached and the group looked up as one, save for Kallen who was on her knees staring at her blood-soaked palms and shaking uncontrollably. The guard wore a black uniform which seemed to be in mockery of the Black Knights' outfits; a black, tinted visor covered his eyes.

"Nina Einstein?" he drawled, pausing in front of one of the nine cells and turning his head to peer in at them.

The green haired girl in the far cell squeaked in shock, attempting to hide behind Cécile; the guard had heard the noise and was approaching. She held her hands to her mouth and began to bite her fingernails while he fumbled with the keypad. The door swung open with a creak, admitting the guard into the small cell. He laid a hand on his pistol as a precaution in case any of the dozen prisoners attempted to attack him.

"Which one of you is Nina Einstein?"

Nina muffled another squeak with her hands as she tried desperately to make herself as small as possible, but the guard had already identified her from her fear.

"Come with me," he ordered roughly, gesturing towards the door. She shook visibly in fright as she stood up and hesitantly shuffled towards him, looking back over her shoulder for support from her fellow inmates. She got almost nothing other than the glares of disgust and hatred that she had been receiving during her stay, regardless of how hard she tried to convince herself that they weren't real. At least Cécile had given her a sympathetic smile as she stood.; both of them knew what was about to happen to her if the reason she had been requested was not pleasant.

It was FLEIJA.

She fell into step behind the guard as he re-secured the cell and led her down the corridors, trying desperately to understand what was going on. She had been the one to create FLEIJA. She had been the one to supply Schneizel El Britannia with a battery of nuclear warheads. There was no reason for anyone to want to save her, regardless of whether they supported Schneizel or Lelouch.

She clenched her fist. So many people had died because of her. It was the least she could do for them to accept her execution as atonement for her sins. But still there was something stopping her, something binding her to the world that she had yet to do before she could die peacefully.

* * *

**Two Months Earlier**

**The Avalon**

Nina walked side by side with Lelouch down the regal halls of the Avalon. She wore a rust-coloured jacket with a sleeveless white robe, falling just below her knees. Her dark green hair was held up with an elastic accessory, two locks framing her face at the front. Her jacket fell down to obscure the hem of her skirt, long black leggings reaching up to mid-thigh and completing her ensemble.

Lelouch conformed to the royal dress code required by his station as the Emperor, although his decision to forgo the commonly added cloak and magistrate's wig had not been a coincidence. Charles Zi Britannia had died by his own efforts; the 98th Emperor of Britannia was the last person to have ever lived that Lelouch would willingly associate himself with.

_'Perhaps that association would have contributed to the Zero Requiem,'_ he mused silently. His decision to remain visibly autonomous from his dead father remained unchanged._'It would have contributed, but I refuse to allow it…I can be selfish in some things, can't I?'_

He was now garbed in a far more elaborate set of predominantly white clothes, completed by an ornate hat embedded with precious jewels.

The White King, indeed.

As Zero, he had been the Black King, reacting to the oppressive white offence. As Lelouch Vi Britannia, he would broadcast his part as the White King to the world, as Charles Zi Britannia and Clovis La Britannia had before him. He would pave the way for Zero, the Black King, to destroy him; the world no longer needed Lelouch Vi Britannia.

His thoughts were broken by Nina.

"Lelouch?"

He turned to look at her, recalling the reply he had crafted to her statement but neglected to offer. "Yes, I know. This is my personal wish. But…"

She looked straight at the ground with her head slightly lowered as she replied, the tension in her balled fists seeping away in nostalgia. "It's Lady Euphemia's wish too, isn't it?"

Lelouch paused, and his eyes glazed over and staring blankly at a spot on the wall directly ahead. She stopped alongside him and turned in his direction. His expression was pensive as she looked away again, a hand slowly making its way to her chest at the thought of the late Third Princess.

"That's why I have to do it."

She spun on her heel to face him, her expression serious. "But the final program won't be complete unless you input the environmental data. Take me with you."

His eyes focused once more as he turned to meet her gaze. The desire to prove herself…no…to atone, was clearly visible in her eyes. He knew because it was the same emotion he saw in Suzaku's eyes from time to time. He would not curse Nina as he had cursed Suzaku, though. Everyone had the right to decide whether they should live or die. He'd needed to keep Suzaku alive for the Zero Requiem; he wouldn't condemn Nina the same way he had condemned his best friend.

"You've done enough, Nina. I understand your true intent through these words of yours right now. Thank you for working with Zero…with me, Euphy's enemy."

His tone was soft, sad even, yet he left no room for argument. She breathed in deeply and closed her eyes for a moment, reopening them to once more meet Lelouch's gaze. In that moment he had attempted to absolve her. It was not the atonement she wished for, but he had told her that she was forgivable.

"I won't forgive Zero," she began slowly, forming her words carefully in her head as she spoke. "Probably never in my entire life. But apart from that, I believe I have to find my own answer. That's all."

Lelouch watched for a moment as she walked away resolutely. For a brief moment – unseen to Nina – his face glowed with a true smile.

"You're admirable."

* * *

**Britannian Holding Cells**

Nina Einstein had yet to find her answer. Almost immediately after Emperor Lelouch had taken over the world, she had been incarcerated with the Order of the Black Knights. She had spent a month in confinement with them; neither she nor Cécile had been well treated by the low-level grunts who had made up cell nine. Lloyd, Rakshata, Ōgi, Kallen and the others had been grouped together in the first three cells. Likely, they would be receiving the most public execution.

She had promised Lelouch…no…promised _herself_ that she would find her own answer, although it wouldn't be through science this time. Science had crippled her, destroyed her morals until she had killed millions through her invention 'in the name of science.' If she ever survived this, she would escape the world of politics and war. Until she found her answer she would not seek the death she longed for.

She was drawn out of her musings as the guard stopped and turned to face her. She flinched and took a step backwards instinctively as he drew closer and reached towards her. He paused for a moment to regard her before he spoke.

"Hold out your hands."

Nina hesitantly lifted her arms up to his level, shaking visibly and barely holding in a whimper. Was she going to be executed early?

Plucking a key from his breast pocket, he gripped her manacles and inserted it, twisting until they fell open with an audible click. Nina made no show of surprise; if someone were to be executed off the record it was likely to be a brutal affair – entertainment for those who derive sick pleasure from such acts. She would hardly be required to be bound if that were to happen.

The guard clipped them shut once he had removed them, returning the key to his breast pocket and placing the restraining equipment in another pocket on the inside of his jacket.

"You are free to go."

Nina's eyes widened in shock and her jaw dropped open. Had he really said she was free to go? Was this some sort of sick joke? 'Let her get to the door of the building where a team of guards would escort her back to a cell?' Or were they going to say she had escaped so they could use it as an excuse to justify hunting her down and assassinating her? Regardless, she would be foolish not to take her chances.

"Wha…Free...Why?" she stuttered in disbelief.

The guard's stance remained completely neutral. "I'm just following orders. Nina Einstein, you are to be released, effective immediately."

Nina nodded resolutely, turning to move at a fast stride towards the exit. She wanted to leave the prison as soon as she possibly could, but didn't want to risk another guard seeing her running and assuming she was an escapee, an enquiry later finding out it was all a big misunderstanding and she was, in fact, due for execution.

As she rounded the corner he removed his visor for the first time, the glowing red tinge slowly fading from around his eyes.

* * *

**The Emperor's Territory - Japan**

Jeremiah Gottwald leant casually against the rail of his personal vehicle, travelling at the foot of Lelouch's own. The procession was artistically designed; two long carriers held the bound prisoners, facing each other as they slowly crawled along the road towards the execution point.

"Now behold. The fools who opposed Sir Lelouch are being transported to the execution spot."

Almost every one of Lelouch's once most trusted allies, and some who had always been his enemies, stood chained upon the them. Kallen, Tōdō, Kanon, Gino, Li Xingke and the Tianzi lined up on one; while Kaguya, Tamaki, Ōgi, Chiba and Anya were bound to the other. None of them made a sound, each holding their chin high in defiance. Tamaki's expression was completely apathetic, having been woken up a few hours earlier. Kallen's punches had damaged more than his face.

"In the great war, we paid a great price with the loss of the Imperial Capital, Pendragon,"

Behind him was Lelouch's float – the throne set atop an extravagantly detailed dais with a slanted floor bearing the Britannian flag.

"many soldiers, and Lord Kururugi Suzaku, the Knight of Zero."

At the base of the float sat Nunnally, chained to the surface yet clean and dressed in a way that she still looked dignified. Schneizel – chained heavily to a post – could not have the same thing said about him. The ornate robes he once wore as a Britannian prince had been disposed of, replaced with tattered grey rags which only reached halfway down his shin. Both of his eyes were marred with the red glow indicative of the effects of Geass.

The crowd was almost silent as they proceeded, family members and friends hastily silencing anyone who spoke out against Lelouch, fearing for their lives. Jeremiah smiled sadly, taking in the sight. It was good that the world hated Lelouch, yet he was the last person who deserved that hate.

'_If only you all knew…'_

Jeremiah clutched the rail firmly, his hand shaking slightly from the pressure. If everything went according to the plan, the world could be set upon the path to peace. If Suzaku couldn't carry it out, the world would descend into chaos. It was saddening that Lelouch would be known as a dictator for years to come, spoken of in malice and disgust. Jeremiah felt his resolve waver and gripped the rail harder; he had sworn his allegiance to Lelouch for all time and would follow his orders implicitly, even if it meant Lelouch's death.

"Now that the EU has signed the charter of the United Federation of Nations, our Sir Lelouch has finally achieved the great accomplishment of uniting the world."

* * *

Seated high up in the stands, Nina watched the procession in anxiety. Kallen and the rest of the administration of the United Federation of Nations were being prepared for execution. There would be no way to save any of them now; Lelouch was a genius of the highest calibre; it would take months of planning to even attempt to penetrate an operation he carried out himself.

Why had she been released? Had it been a sympathiser who had taken pity on her and arranged her discharge under the table? No…nobody in their right mind would have done something like that for the scientist who had created FLEIJA.

Even if they had wanted to spare some of Lelouch's victims, there were many who would have been seen to be more worthy of it than the architect of a nuclear warhead which had wiped out millions during the war. Rakshata Chawla, Lloyd Asplund, Cécile Croomy, Sumeragi Kaguya, Tianzi – the list went on. Every one of them deserved forgiveness, the closest thing to a crime between them likely being Lloyd's disposition to view his pilots as knightmare parts or Cécile's contributions to the field of cullinary evolution.

Nina could never say the same thing about herself. Even Lelouch didn't have as much blood on his hands. Why was it that the world hated Lelouch Vi Britannia, but wouldn't feel the same level of hatred for Nina Einstein? If all of the world's hatred was focussed on her, then she could find her answer in death. All hatred and malice would die with her, the world uniting to bring about her downfall. She would have her atonement.

She gasped softly and stared at Lelouch on his throne.

* * *

'_It couldn't be…could it?'_

The remaining free members of the Order of the Black Knights waited nervously in a high rise building overlooking the procession. They wore the standard uniforms of their organisation – black with silver trimmings – and a visor obscuring their faces. Hoods had been attached to the backs of their jackets for this operation to further mask their identities. The changes had been implemented for the sake of Cornelia and the remaining Glaston Knights; if she was serious about leading a rebellion against Lelouch Vi Britannia, then it was too early to allow her actions today to be associated with her.

A gasp from Villetta drew her attention. The dark-skinned woman's grip was fixed on the frame of the window as she watched the prisoners travel towards the execution grounds, her fingers trembling with exertion from the pressure.

"Ōgi!"

A tear rolled down her cheek and fell towards the surface she had been leaning on, hitting the plastic curtain runner she had bent out of shape in her distress. She clenched her teeth and spun around, unable to endure the torment she felt as the father of her child was marched out to die. A hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"If you go out now, you're doing just what he expects." Cornelia's voice was cold and forced, but not unsympathetic.

Villetta spun around to face Cornelia. "But–"

Her argument was broken off by a gasp from the crowd.

* * *

Nina's mind was still buzzing with thoughts when she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She spun around to see a teenager with dark hair, his face concealed by a blue baseball cap. He wore a light blue sweater, gathering around his neck and pooling loosely over the top of the long rust-coloured jacket he was wearing open at the front. His hands never left his pockets as she regarded him.

"Excuse me," she began nervously, faced with a complete stranger. With her reputation she would have to be constantly on guard; anyone she met could realistically be attempting to assassinate her. "Did you tap me on the shoulder?"

"Yes," he replied shortly, his eyes still firmly focussed on the ground in front of him.

He said nothing for a few moments as she waited for him to respond, hesitantly taking a step backwards in trepidation. Slowly he raised his head and tilted the rim of his cap upwards to look her in the eyes.

"You will rescue Schneizel and take him to safety during the confusion."

Nina's eyes clouded over for a moment, the haze quickly being replaced by a glowing red ring around her grey orbs.

"Of course. I understand."

He nodded silently in acknowledgement, pulling his cap back down over his face and turning to leave. When he was out of her sight, the rings around her eyes faded.

"Why did you–" she began, cutting herself off as she realised that the man she had been talking to had disappeared. Frantically, she spun around looking for any sign of him; he could be attempting to sneak up on her and kill her. Hearing a collective gasp from the crowd, she abandoned her search and returned her gaze to the demonstration.

* * *

"What?"

The knightmares leading the prisoners and Lelouch drew to a stop, readying their weapons at the sound of a pilot's voice.

The crowd gasped at the sight of the masked Zero, leader of the Order of the Black Knights, standing defiantly against the Emperor in the centre of the road.

Nunnally's eyes opened wider than they ever had before, looking back and forward between Lelouch and Zero in shock. "Zero?"

Many of the Black Knights shared her sentiments, their necks snapping backwards and forwards between the two who they had once thought to be the same person. Confused murmurs ran through the crowd. What was Zero planning to do? How could he release the hostages without a knightmare?

Nina's hand flew to her chest, thinking her heart had stopped beating momentarily. How could Zero be there when Lelouch was too? Was Lelouch truly not the masked leader of the Order of the Black Knights? Had she hated him needlessly? Was he not the one who killed Euphemia? Or was he…

"Impossible!" Kallen screamed frantically, struggling with her bonds as she tried to understand the meaning behind Zero's appearance. "Lelouch's over there!"

For the briefest moment she thought she saw the ghost of a sad smile pass across his features. Everything clicked and she bit her lip to stop herself from crying. She squeezed her eyelids shut, stifling the tears before looking up at Lelouch once more, the Emperor having stood from his throne to face Zero.

"Don't tell me Lelouch was trying to…"

Jeremiah vaulted over the railing on his platform to face Zero, screaming at the knightmare pilots to stand down. He sprinted towards Suzaku – who had managed to dodge a few rounds of gunfire – and flicked his wrist, extending the golden spike hidden in his forearm.

"That movement…" Tōdō muttered under his breath. "Kururu…"

Jeremiah lunged at Zero, smirking slightly as he fell towards the ground, Zero having vaulted over him. He shut his eyes for a moment as his body hit the cold asphalt of the road below.

_'Go forth, masked Knight…'_

Moments later Zero stood before Lelouch, sword out and poised to attack. Lelouch's eyes betrayed his fear, authentic as it was. He would not rescind on the Zero Requiem. He would follow it through to the end.

Kallen fought against her bonds hopelessly, letting out a howl of anguish in her failure. Tears glistened in her eyes, breaking free of their restraints and streaming down her cheeks. She slammed the back of her head against the metal sheet she was tied to, bending it only slightly and allowing her blood to freely cascade down the back of her neck

"LELOUCH!"

Time seemed to grind to a halt as Zero thrust his sword towards Lelouch. To many of those who knew him, it was as if they could feel the blade piercing themselves. A collective breath was held by many others who knew him and the rest of the world – hoping against all hope that the tyrannical 99th Emperor would be brought to justice.

Zero brought his sword forward, thrusting it deep into Lelouch's ribcage. Lelouch had, at the last moment, moved into the blade to ensure the wound would be lethal; Suzaku had almost lost his resolve in the end.

"L-Lelouch" Suzaku stuttered, tears in his eyes as he held the handle of the sword which was impaled through the midsection of his best friend. He'd actually done it; the Zero Requiem was complete. Forever would he bear the guilt, the blood of the world's true saviour on his hands.

Lelouch fell forward to rest his chin on Suzaku's shoulder. "This is punishment for you too," he began softly, the crowd completely silent as they watched. Even if it had not been, neither would have noticed.

"You'll continue to wear the mask as the ally of justice. You can't continue living as Kururugi Suzaku." He stopped to draw in a shaky breath, just barely continuing to rest his chin on Suzaku's shoulder; his best friend's body racked by silent sobs.

"You'll give up everything for the world, including your own happiness, for all time."

Suzaku clenched his teeth, brow quivering in determination. "I accept that 'Geass.'"

Lelouch coughed, almost falling forwards before catching himself with a hand on Suzaku's shoulder.

"Why this, Lelouch?" he asked, more to himself than expecting an answer from his dying friend.

"One day, Suzaku" Lelouch began, stopping for a moment to draw in a strangled breath. "One day you will understand just why this was necessary…" He paused and looked up to fix his gaze on where he knew Suzaku's eyes were behind the mask of Zero.

"…One day you will truly understand the Zero Requiem."

Suzaku's eyes widened in horror. He gripped the edges of Lelouch's robe, pulling him so that they were face to face. To the crowd it seemed like Zero was checking if the Emperor was dead. Suzaku spoke softly, his voice strained with grief. "Truly understand…Why have I killed you, Lelouch? Tell me! Was it not for peace? What have you left me here to do?"

Lelouch didn't answer. He was already dead.

Suzaku stood up to his full height. Lelouch had given his life for…for something; not even his own torment would prevent him from playing the part his best friend had entrusted him with. Eyes shining with tears behind his mask, he withdrew the sword from Lelouch's body and dropped him, putting on a strong façade for his audience and flicking the blood off his blade.

Lelouch's body landed on the edge of the dais, sliding down the ramp to come to rest at Nunnally's feet, his descent leaving a thick trail of blood coating the Britannian flag on the platform.

"Onii-sama?" Nunnally began tentatively, still in shock from the situation as she reached out to touch his face. His skin was already cooling; if she looked, she knew she wouldn't find a pulse.

"The Damocles…" she continued shakily. "You knew its purpose…and that's why you wanted to destroy it. You've had this planned for so long, Lelouch, haven't you?" Her question was left unanswered, his eyes open yet unfocussed.

"I'm sorry, Onii-sama…I'm so sorry…" Her body shook as she gripped his body, tears flowing freely now. "…I…I called you a villain…I called you cruel…I called you a coward…" She screamed in phantom pain, feeling every time she had betrayed him as if it were the same stab to the chest Lelouch had received.

"You're anything but, Onii-sama…I love you…" she whispered quietly in his ear. "…and…thank you…for everything you've done for this world. I hope you can be happy…wherever you are…"

She reached across and planted a kiss on his cold forehead, her tears coating his peaceful face.

"Lelouch the villain has died!" announced a figure standing in the doorway of one of the buildings and wearing the uniform of the Order of the Black Knights. The voice was feminine, but her identity was obscured by the hood and mask. "Release the hostages!"

Twenty more of the Black Knights emptied out of the building behind her, racing towards the captives and occasionally firing a round into the air from their automatic rifles. Hundreds of civilians tore out of the stands and followed in their wake, leaping up onto the two largest vehicles and beginning to unbind their allies.

"Ōgi!"

Yellow eyes met brown as Villetta jumped into his now unbound arms. Ōgi, still in shock, could do little more than pat her on the back awkwardly, his gaze never leaving the figure of Zero, standing unmoving on the royal dais.

Kallen was the last to be unbound, hissing and kicking at anyone who came anywhere near her to assist. Her eyes were swollen and bloodshot, tears cascading down her cheeks in a never-ending current.

_'Why, Lelouch? Surely there was another way…You betrayed us, Lelouch…You betrayed me again!'_

Finally Tamaki was able to fight past her defences and knock her out, allowing the rescue team to carry her away. The metal sheet behind her was completely drenched in blood from top to bottom; she had to have been in critical condition from blood loss. His own features were spotless, his face set in an emotionless mask.

Something had changed in Tamaki Shinichirō; he would never be quite the same again.

Cornelia surveyed the operation from her position still in the doorway to the building. Her brother was dead – her little brother Lelouch who Euphemia and herself would always play with as a child, the younger of the two loudly proclaiming that she was going to marry him before she knew any better. He had cast the world into anarchy and killed her little sister, but in the end he was still Lelouch. A single tear fell from her eye as she began to sob quietly to herself.

In the chaos of victory, nobody noticed a dark green haired girl with red rings around her eyes quietly unchain Schneizel El Britannia and remove him from the area.

* * *

The man wearing the blue baseball cap walked slowly through the crowds hurrying in the opposite direction. They never seemed to notice him as he walked, keeping his head down and allowing the stream of people to subconsciously flow around him. Once the majority of the crowds had passed, he was joined by a woman wearing a grey jumper, the hood drawn up and over her head.

Neither of them looked at each other as they walked in silence, leaving the procession grounds and making their way slowly down a deserted road.

"Was that really necessary?" the woman asked, breaking the silence for the first time.

"Yes, it was," the man replied. "It was his time. Lelouch Vi Britannia had to die for me to carry out my plans."

She nodded resolutely, neither of them breaking stride or adjusting their body language to reveal they were even speaking at all.

They slowed to a halt as the man looked up from the ground, eyes staring off into the distance. "You did well…"

The woman silently looked up and pulled down her hood, a bright red, bird-shaped sigil fading from her left eye.

"…Shirley."


	2. Phase 2

_It has been one year since the execution of Lelouch Vi Britannia, 99__th__ Britannian Emperor, at the hands of the people's saviour – Zero._

_In this time, the delicate peace the world had achieved through uniting against their shared oppressor has been shattered. Three months after Lelouch's death, Prince Schneizel El Britannia, having escaped from the execution block, unveiled his bid for the world – the European Union._

_It was revealed that Schneizel had already conquered Europe discreetly through political means four years previous to the execution. The figureheads of each country had been replaced with puppets, and many of its countries had been instructed, under his direction, to participate in the United Federation of Nations in order to secure him a majority vote._

_The war had been fast and brutal. Any organised resistance which attempted to prevent Schneizel from overthrowing Britannia and the United Federation of Nations was quelled immediately by his knightmare army; their methods focussing on slaughtering each and every 'terrorist' rather than on destroying enough frames for the groups to no longer pose a threat to him._

_Schneizel's army was equipped with mass production seventh generation frames which were on par with the original Lancelot. The few resistance groups who sought to operate independently from the Order of the Black Knights had been wiped out immediately, their knightmare frame technology being fifth generation at best._

_The members of the Order of the Black Knights, save for Zero himself – having been indisposed through meeting with Li Xingke and the Tianzi at the time – had been captured during Schneizel's first invasion of Japan in simultaneous raids on their knightmare depots, supply stockpiles and command centres. Once Schneizel had secured Japan as his own, he had released the Black Knights with full pardons and severe cuts to their resources._

_This action had greatly confused the public. Many Britannians saw it as a sign that Schneizel was compassionate and willing to work with the Order, while the majority of the newly renamed 'Elevens' believed that their Zero had been behind their rescue – Schneizel covering up his defeat by making it seem like he had been the one to order their release._

_Very few saw it for what it truly was, though. The commanding officers of the Black Knights knew that they couldn't possibly hope to defeat Schneizel as they were. They retained only a handful of Akatsukis, as__ well as the Lancelot Albion and Guren SEITEN Eight-Elements frames, which had been rebuilt immediately after their destruction. Upon the Black Knights' release, however, they had to be downgraded in order to be sustainable due the shortage in Sakuradite they were experiencing._

_During the four months they spent as Schneizel's prisoners, the Second Prince had been able to map out all of their supply channels and the sources of their funding. Through controlled raids of these organisations, he had slowed their support capabilities to a standstill. Sakuradite, which had once been flowing into the Order of the Black Knights' hands in far greater quantities than they required, was now extremely difficult to procure. Knightmare frame contributions from the contemporary equivalent of Kyōto House had dwindled to an average of two generic _Akatsuki_ frames per fortnight._

_Despite still having some firepower remaining, the top rungs of the Black Knights knew that Schneizel had released them only so that he would be able to make an example out of them; executing them outright would be seen as redolent of Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia. Schneizel aimed to use the world's hatred of Lelouch to ensure that they would be willing to remain together under one banner; one which he could eventually claim as his own. _

_It was nothing short of a certainty that Schneizel intended to limit their resources and capacity to fight against him so that he would be able to effectively butcher them in war. The Order of the Black Knights were his means with which to prove to the world that he could not be defeated, even by Zero – the masked figure who claimed to deliver justice. _

_The lower level members of the Black Knights refused to subscribe to the pessimism which plagued the higher echelons. At the first mention of not achieving success, they would snap back with vehemence, loudly proclaiming that they still had Zero, who would allow them to win no matter how heavily the odds were stacked against them. _

_This did not raise the spirits of the command level; every one of them knew that Lelouch was the original Zero and that the new one was an imposter, not the strategic genius who had led them through their golden days. Regardless, they gradually began to acknowledge him over time, although if it hadn't been for his ability to assassinate Lelouch then they would have discarded him immediately. _

_With their final hopes resting on one last battle to liberate the world, the Order of the Black Knights went underground, biding their time and gathering resources for an all or nothing assault against Schneizel's forces. _

_In the five months following the Black Knights' disappearance, Odysseus U Britannia was crowned the 100th Britannian Emperor. Despite his station, it was clear that he was merely a puppet, Schneizel pulling his strings from behind. _

_Pendragon was rebuilt immediately following his inauguration, as was Pendragon Palace – the original schematics having been stored off-site. The few upgrades which had been made to the palace were predominantly structural, keeping as true to its original design as possible. People were originally reluctant to relocate to a site bearing the mark of FLEIJA, yet the Imperial Capital was once again back to full residential capacity in two months – the opportunity to be able to live in the prestigious locality which had previously been so astronomically difficult to secure a plot of land in, proving much too tempting for many Britannians to pass up. _

_The quality of life for both Britannian citizens and the 'Numbers' – particularly those in Area 11 – had declined dramatically under his reign. Cities were again divided between the Britannians in the settlement and the Elevens in the ghettos, which had begun to corrode once more._

_Riots were commonplace in both localities; Elevens, spurred on by their confidence in Zero, fought back willingly against their oppressors. Neither the Britannians nor the Elevens were safe from racial violence, a pattern which was mimicked to some degree in every territory Schneizel had reclaimed after Emperor Lelouch had released them. _

_None felt it to the degree that those of Area 11 did, however; Schneizel had decided to personally operate from the area to assert his authority as Second in Command of the Britannian Empire in title – First in Command in reality._

_The Honorary Britannian system was once again reinstated at the orders of Emperor Odysseus U Britannia, although it was by no means received well by the repressed Japanese. Less than fifty thousand across the entirety of Area 11 had applied for the status, the rest unwilling to submit to Britannian rule after their first taste of freedom for the better part of a decade. Those who did apply were predominantly families with small children who couldn't afford to support a war effort. All of them received the status and went into hiding in the Britannian Settlement, viewing the disgust from their own people as a small price to pay in order to keep their families safe. _

_Nobody would ever admit it, but both the Britannians and Numbers knew that Emperor Odysseus U Britannia's reign was destroying the world even more brutally than Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia's. If anyone were asked whether they would have preferred Lelouch to Odysseus, they would not give an answer. Lelouch's policies had been physically much kinder on the world than Odysseus', but it was the hope which had been rekindled though the Order of the Black Knights before he became Emperor that he had broken in them. _

_Ōgi __Kaname__ and __Ōgi__ Villetta (formerly Villetta Nu) have been recently removed from active knightmare duty at the insistence of Cornelia Li Britannia, in lieu of the birth of their child a month after leaving captivity. The decision was made on the basis that the two would be less effective as their efforts would have to be split between their duties and raising their child. Both of them are still highly wanted and actively hunted by Schneizel's men, so they have remained in hiding with the Black Knights, performing in an administrative capacity within the information sector. Kōzuki Kallen had been similarly relegated to light duties for reasons not released to any other than the core group. _

_Nunnally Vi Britannia and Shinozaki Sayoko, like Ōgi __Kaname__ and __Ōgi__ Villetta, also remain in hiding with the Order of the Black Knights, fearing that Schneizel will attempt to once again take Nunnally captive for use as a political tool. _

_Li Xingke and the Tianzi have remained in China throughout the war, Li Xingke's health not permitting him to regularly sortie on the frontlines. His decision to remain in China for its length was well received by the Black Knights, accepting that it was better for him to serve as the last line of defence for his country in the event that the war physically spilt across, rather than to succumb to his illness after a few minor battles in Area 11. The loss of his Shenhu was a huge blow to the Black Knights, but they had little choice other than to make do without it._

_Jeremiah Gottwald has been inactive since the execution of Lelouch Vi Britannia. Lelouch's final order to him was to avoid any war which may follow; both sides would see him as an enemy, and he would be unable to persuade them otherwise without explaining Lelouch's actions and rendering his death futile.  
_

_Rakshata Chawla, Lloyd Asplund, Cécile Croomy and Nina Einstein have all been reported missing at various stages throughout the year. Nothing is known about their disappearances_

_Milly Ashford has been promoted from reading the weather to Head Anchor at the newly renamed Area 11 Television Network. She has now become a household name throughout the colony._

_Rivalz Cardemonde continues to attend Ashford Academy after failing a year due to lack of attendance. He has been publicly noted to be "sad" about all of his friends leaving him. _

_Gino Weinberg and Anya Alstreim are enlisted with the Order of the Black Knights, having joined permanently in the immediate aftermath of Lelouch Vi Britannia's execution and their subsequent rescue at the hands of the Order. The remains of the Tristan Divider and Mordred had been salvaged and rebuilt in the period preceding Schneizel's invasion and annexing of the Black Knights' resources, although both frames__ – __like the Lancelot and Guren models__ – __had to be downgraded to cope with the deficiency in Sakuradite. _

_Twelve months after the death of Lelouch Vi Britannia, the Order of the Black Knights prepare to make their final stand against Schneizel El Britannia._

* * *

**2019 a.t.b. **

**Command Centre - The Avalon**

Suzaku sat alone in the Avalon's war room, his fingers resting on the arms of his chair. The ship had been salvaged almost completely intact following Lelouch's execution. A good deal of its armour had to be repaired, and its defences and fuel stores recharged, sure, but overall the ship was in remarkable condition for one which had seemed to sustain such heavy damage in service on the battlefield.

At first his appearances as their masked leader had been lacklustre and sporadic, still grieving from the death of his best friend – at his own hands, no less. Over time he adapted much better to his role as Zero, his resolve strengthening as his heart slowly decayed.

It took some time for Tōdō, Cornelia, Ōgi and the others to come to accept him as Zero, yet he never told any of them his true identity, and they seemed content not to know. Kallen, he thought, had some idea that he may have been Kururugi Suzaku, although she never made any move to either prove or disprove this theory. If she did, she either knew for certain who he was, or she was content in not knowing; the last 'Zero' she had gotten close to had betrayed her.

He stood from his position and walked over to the region map which was visible on the display. Almost all of Schneizel's deployed units were hovering around his aerial base, Damocles.

Suzaku clenched his fist in disgust. Schneizel had created another Damocles. The original was unaccounted for after his defeat at the hands of Lelouch, but it was evident that it was not the same Damocles which Nunnally had fired FLEIJA after FLEIJA from. The new model was in pristine condition; this battle would be the first it had ever faced.

'_And hopefully, the last it will ever face,'_ Suzaku told himself with a grimace. Things were not looking good for him. Schneizel had easily matched the total number of mass-production frames he had brought to the battlefield; almost every single one of the Black Knights' trained pilots were hovering in formation around the Avalon, save for his irregulars and Squad Seven.

He still had the Guren, Lancelot, Tristan and Mordred frames, but Schneizel was almost a certainty to have many powerful frames under his command as well; Suzaku hadn't even seen the depths of his generic frames, let alone his most powerful units. Of course, that was without taking into account the fact that all four of his best knightmares had to be downgraded to fulfil the Sakuradite requirements, as well as the fact that every one of Schneizel's mass-production units were at the level of the prototype Lancelot, while the capacity of his own Akatsukis was somewhat below that level.

Schneizel's knightmare technology could be seen to be constantly improving over the full year, while that of the Order of the Black Knights remained horribly stagnant. Since the disappearance of Rakshata Chawla, Lloyd Asplund and Cécile Croomy, the Black Knights' technology department had been horribly bare. Despite his best efforts, Suzaku was unable to procure the services of a talented knightmare engineer. For the six months, the primary functions of his technology department were limited to repairing knightmares, building new Akatsukis from blueprints, downgrading his four best frames, and replicating a generic float system to be attached to the Akatsukis.

Somewhat ironically, Schneizel's units were all equipped with identical energy wing systems. The designs for them were created by Rakshata personally when she was still with the Black Knights. He often wondered who Schneizel had employed as an engineer; technicians of Rakshata's and Lloyd's calibre don't come by every day. There was every possibility the designs had been garnered from acquiring one of their float systems after a skirmish, but on the flipside, there was also the possibility that someone was leaking their data.

Suzaku slammed his closed fist into a section of the control panel which was unoccupied by keys and controls. _'No. There is nothing to __hope__ for. This __will__ be the last battle the Damocles ever sees.'_ He clenched his eyes shut and stood up to his full height, opening them once again to regard the battle map in front of him. _'Lelouch, you left me here to win this war for peace. I haven't done the best job over the past year, but I won't….I won't let you down again.'_

"Lord Zero."

Suzaku spun around to see a guard standing in the doorway on the far side of the room. He had the guard stationed outside the door to screen his visitors.

"Gino Weinberg and Anya Alstreim are here to meet with you."

He nodded and the guard vacated the doorway, stepping back out into the corridor. The visages of Gino and Anya replaced him.

Gino was the first to speak, walking in casually and sitting down in a spare seat. "Hey Zero, when do we get to go out and fight some?" he asked, pumping his fists in the air as if he were boxing an invisible opponent.

A click was heard, and both men turned to see Anya leaning up against the wall, holding her red camera phone up in the air.

"Moment recorded."

Gino sighed and rolled his eyes at his fellow ex-rounds member's eccentricities. Suzaku, not in the frame of mind for such banter, nodded towards her.

"It's good to see you too, Anya."

He turned back to Gino. "The two of you will not be deployed until the final stage of this battle. I will accompany you in the Lancelot."

Gino winced slightly as his words, no doubt recalling the 'loss' of Suzaku. Despite knowing that Gino was wrong about his death, it was just as hard for Suzaku, if not harder; watching his friends walk around thinking he had died had made into the top five worst feelings in his life, accompanied by those involved with murdering his own father, watching Euphemia die, hearing of Shirley's death and following through on Lelouch's request to kill him.

He blinked back tears; it was not the time to compromise his effectiveness as a leader. He would never be the genius Lelouch was, but he would do his best to honour his late friend's memory and realise his dream.

"Why the Lancelot? I thought you had ordered a personal frame. Only Kururugi Suzaku has been able to unlock the Lancelot's full potential," Gino queried, dropping his casual tone and adopting the mask of war. Anya followed suit, pocketing her camera phone and sitting next to Gino.

"I am a highly skilled knightmare pilot," he replied, his tone devoid of arrogance as if he were simply stating a fact. "You and Anya will pilot the Tristan and Mordred as you have been for years. I will pilot the Lancelot." His tone was that of a commander, leaving no room for argument.

Gino nodded and looked down, crinkling his brow in thought before lifting his chin to stare curiously at Suzaku's Zero mask. "You didn't mention the Guren."

Suzaku responded immediately, his reply pre-prepared. "The Guren will be piloted by a member of our regular forces who has shown increasing promise as of late. Kallen will be piloting an Akatsuki on the frontlines during the battle."

Gino leapt to his feet in fury. "This is it, Zero! This will be the final battle! You can't _possibly_ refuse to send Kallen out in the Guren! We can't win without her! I mean I know she's–"

"SIT DOWN, GINO!" Suzaku barked, slamming a fist down on the table. "You are out of line!"

Gino backpedalled slightly, the backs of his knees pulling his chair with him. He'd never seen Zero so angry; the man had always seemed to be perpetually unperturbed, exuding an almost tangible aura of confidence and composure. Not even the former Knight of Two was prepared to tangle with Zero; original or not, the man's word could not be taken as anything other than law.

He felt Anya's grip on his shoulder as he went to reseat himself. He hesitated before standing up again, Anya addressing Zero. "We will wait in the hangar for your command."

Suzaku managed to regain control of his emotions and reined them in forcibly. "Yes. That will be all."

Gino nodded hesitantly, before following Anya out of the room.

Once the guard had checked the room and the door shut behind him, Suzaku collapsed into the chair in front of him.

He had almost lost control. How could he be an effective commander if he couldn't keep his emotions in check? _'Lelouch would have been able to–'_

A beeping sound emanated from the screen behind him. He spun around to see a red message on the display, indicating that one of his pilots was attempting to engage a video link between them. A few screen commands later another window engaged, showing Nagisa Chiba at the controls of her Knightmare.

"Lord Zero."

"Report."

"Squad Seven reporting in after completion of objective," she replied formally, waiting for further specifics to be requested of her.

Suzaku caught himself from heaving a sigh of relief. The battle had been going downhill from the very beginning, when Schneizel had revealed his vast number of frames. Suzaku had known that the Damocles was capable of housing hundreds of units, but he hadn't expected the man to have so many of those knightmare bays full.

Squads One through Four, Squad Eight – one of two key frontline squads – as well as Squad Nine had been lost almost immediately in a front on attack, Schneizel having deployed a smaller force originally. It turned out to have been a trap, waves upon waves of knightmare frames pouring out of the Damocles' hangar to annihilate the weaker and less abundant Black Knights' frames. It had been an hour since then and neither side seemed willing to move until recently.

Ten minutes ago, Suzaku had been able to locate a four-man knightmare squad of enemy guerrilla troops making their way across the land far below them, off to one side of the Tokyo Settlement. A truck was seen driving inside the formation towards the point directly beneath the Avalon's position.

"Then the ambush was a success?"

"Yes, the ambush was a success. The lead enemy frame was larger than the others and of a different design. Its positioning also indicated that it was a stronger unit than the others, possibly an eighth or ninth generation model. We were able to get a closer look at its float system and it turned out to be an Energy Wing System."

'_Cécile's Energy Wing System?'_ Suzaku thought to himself. _'How did Schneizel manage to get hold of that? The only two frames equipped with it were the Guren and the Lancelot, and we have both of them aboard the Avalon. I know he couldn't have retrieved them during the Black Knights' capture; the Guren's Energy Wing System was destroyed when they captured us, and I had the Lancelot with me.'_

"We assumed that it was a ninth generation frame and switched from Plan One to Plan Three," she continued. "Instead of relying on having thirteen frames to overpower their four, we took a risk and dedicated five frames to setting up a large Gefjun Net at the ambush point. The field was successful and the pilots were executed. All four frames self-destructed when their pilots were killed; we found the remains of liquid Sakuradite detonators on each of their chests after examining the bodies."

Suzaku shivered. He remembered all too well what one of _those_ looked like.

**_"Idiot! The world does not revolve only around ideals! Come, shoot me if you intend to do so! I have liquid Sakuradite with me! It will explode if my heart stops beating."_**

He gripped the edge of the bench, out of view of the camera. "And what of the truck?"

Chiba hesitated slightly. "I…I think you should see for yourself."

She reached a hand out towards the screen and the display flickered to show the view from her knightmare's external cameras. Three men were loading a metallic device riddled with holes into the carrier on the back of her frame. Suzaku let out a gasp which went undetected by the microphone.

"Is…is that…?"

"FLEIJA," she finished for him, her tone scathing. "It appears they had planned to launch it at the Avalon from directly below. You would have been unable to avoid the blast."

Suzaku nodded slowly; it was mere chance that he had asked for the terrain scan which had revealed the enemy units. If he hadn't…

"The truck obviously wasn't fuelled by Sakuradite, so the Gefjun Net had no effect on it. They tried to escape but we eventually brought them down under heavy gunfire. We didn't know the truck contained a FLEIJA until we opened it up; we had assumed it contained some sort of linear cannon," she admitted, a slightly apologetic tone making its way into her voice for her inaccurate assumption. "The FLEIJA was equipped with a launch system designed to propel it in one direction. Our bullet fire destroyed it, but it was a miracle that the FLEIJA itself didn't activate."

"You Holy Swords seem to be good with miracles."

Chiba blushed and turned away slightly to school her features. When she looked back, her face was the picture of seriousness. "The FLEIJA has been loaded onto the back of my knightmare, where would you like it deposited?" It was clear to Suzaku that she was nervous about having the nuclear warhead strapped to her back, but to her credit she barely showed it.

"Load it onto Caerleon X-62. The pilot is skilled and has personally requested the first opportunity to complete any dangerous missions. Carrying a FLEIJA in a battle zone fits that criterion, don't you think?"

Chiba gulped, the words of Zero reinforcing the level of danger she was in by carrying an unstable FLEIJA. "Understood. Squad Seven Captain, out."

The screen flickered, returning to the map which had been showing before Chiba's transmission. He breathed a sigh of relief as he noted that the battle conditions hadn't changed.

He removed his mask momentarily to wipe the sweat off his brow, having accumulated in his unease. Doing the same to the inside of his mask, his fingers momentarily paused over the mouthpiece. When Lelouch had given him the mask of Zero, he had noticed that there was a green light on a small metal box where his mouth would fit.

Lelouch had explained that the box was a mouthpiece which amplified his voice and gave it the echoing quality associated with Zero. In preparation to relinquish the mask to Suzaku, Lelouch had upgraded the device to cloak Suzaku's voice, making it sound as if it were Lelouch's own. He had told him with a smirk that it was his only true technological invention, and that perhaps Suzaku could patent it for him one day.

He replaced his mask just as Tōdō and Cornelia burst into the room.

"Zero! What's going on? Where are our orders?" Cornelia demanded, clenching her fists at her sides and visibly seething in anger.

Suzaku remained unperturbed. "I have not given you any as of yet. The battle conditions are yet to change."

"What are you talking abo–" Cornelia began, before her gaze snapped towards the monitor and all colour drained from her face. "Your information is wrong! Someone must be jamming your display!"

Suzaku's eyes widened and his gut clenched, praying that he hadn't been made to miss something which had seen the majority of his army killed. Cornelia grabbed him by the hand and raced out of the room, Tōdō falling into step behind her.

Less than a minute later they found themselves outside the communications department of the Avalon. Cornelia and Tōdō squatted on either side of the door as he took his place next to the Second Princess. Tōdō began a silent countdown with his fingers as all three of them drew rifles.

As the countdown came to a close, Suzaku followed his two allies as Tōdō kicked the door open and Cornelia raced in after him. The room was a mess; six bodies were littered around it, every one of them beheaded in grotesquely efficient style. A single man in a soldier's uniform spun around from one of the control panels and pointed a gun at Suzaku.

Tōdō had his forehead riddled with bullet holes before he could even disengage the safety.

"A spy," Suzaku mumbled to himself, quiet enough that his two comrades would be unable to hear him. "I thought they were all screened for loyalty…"

He watched Cornelia make her way over to the panels with a stern expression on her face, beginning to input the override codes which would reset the systems. Suzaku tapped a concealed button on the side of his mask which activated his headset. He pulled a device similar to a mobile phone out of his pocket and selected a line.

"Ōgi? This is Zero. I want you and Villetta up at the communications deck as soon as possible. A spy has been able to breach the Organisation and assassinate the communications staff in order to override my displays," he explained. Receiving a reply of acknowledgement from Ōgi, he continued. "You are to barricade yourself inside the control room and take over command. There is a supply chute in the room which you may use to dispose of the bodies; have one of the maintenance workers move them into a freezer from below. That is all."

He tapped the button on his mask once more to disengage the device, turning back to Cornelia, who was finishing up resetting the system. "What was the issue you originally wished to discuss with me?"

Neither of them answered for a moment, seemingly searching for words. Tōdō finally responded to his question. "I think you should see for yourself…"

Suzaku grimaced. The last time he had heard someone say that had been less than ten minutes ago, and that was to inform him that Schneizel had almost successfully hit his airship with a FLEIJA warhead.

Cornelia stood up and strode past him to the far wall, inputting another code into a keypad. Every screen and board in the room went black, before a whirring sound was heard from the reinforced cabinet holding the Avalon's main servers as the displays began to flicker between blue and pink in their reboot stage. She strode out the door and Tōdō beckoned him to follow, locking the door behind him.

When he arrived at the main deck, everyone's gaze snapped towards him, some with looks of panic on their faces, while others showed relief at his arrival. Taking in the anxious looks marring Cornelia's and even the typically fearless Tōdō's faces, he turned towards the window which covered the entire outer wall and faced towards the Damocles. What he saw made his eyes widen in horror.

"This is…"

* * *

**Chapter 2 done! What does everyone think? :D**

**The next chapter has some form of mecha battle, although I feel obligated to inform you that I am not overly confident about writing knightmare fights. Code Geass is the first anime I have ever watched which dealt with mecha, so I'm somewhat out of my depth. I am not counting the first six episodes of Gurren Lagann I watched the other day; I can't incorporate five thousand words of "COMBINE!" "OKAY!" "NO, NOT LIKE THAT! COMBINE WITH THE TRUE SPIRIT OF A MANLY WARRIOR!" into my fic, lol. Nothing against Gurren Lagann, I know exactly how epically brilliant it is, but there isn't a lot of super robot that correlates to Code Geass. =P  
**

**Regardless, I'll do my best to provide you with some sort of knightmare warfare, although it likely wont be more than 750-1000 words of the chapter (I have BIG things planned for the next chapter :P)**

* * *

**What I would like to hear about if you decide to review:  
**

**1. What did you think of my Nina in Chapter One? –**** Only one reviewer commented on my characterisation of her, which I found kinda disappointing. I put a lot of work into writing her :(  
**

**2. How well do you think Suzaku is taking over the role as Zero?**

**3. What did you think of my summary of the year between Lelouch's execution and the present?**

* * *

**I'll get started on Phase Three tomorrow. I completed this chapter in a day, so I could potentially complete and upload it tomorrow night. That's tomorrow night for me, keep in mind that its 4:00am here, and I'm thinking midnight or so tomorrow.**

**Yes, 4:00am. I'm dedicated lol.**

**Cheers,**

**Lord Bear**


	3. Phase 3

**Last Time: **

_When Suzaku arrived at the main deck of the Avalon, everyone's gaze snapped towards him, some with looks of panic on their faces, while others showed relief at his arrival. Taking in the anxious expressions marring Cornelia's and even the typically fearless Tōdō's faces, he turned towards the window which covered the entire outer wall and faced towards the Damocles. What he saw made his eyes widen in horror._

_"This is…"_

* * *

**The Avalon**

On the far side of the twenty mile gap between the Avalon and Damocles was perhaps the last sight any commander of an army would wish to see – scores of knightmare frames swarming out of the Damocles frontal hangar like bees out of a hive.

Suzaku maintained a cool composure for the masses, but was inwardly terrified of the latest developments. He raised his right hand to his head and tapped the communication switch on the side of his mask, hidden by the tall collar of his cloak. His left hand went into his pocket and once again retrieved the master communication device, selecting the same line he had previously.

"Ōgi? This is Zero."

The line crackled for a moment before a different voice than he was expecting entered his ear. "Villetta here."

"Villetta, then; have you secured the area?"

"Yes," she replied after a brief moment of silence in which he could hear her tapping on the control panels. "The communications centre has been re-secured and all of its functions are operating normally."

"Good. Right now I want the screen on the main deck magnified to focus on the Damocles. This is your top priority."

"Yes, understood," was her immediate response. Seconds later the window crackled with feedback, startling a few soldiers who weren't aware that it was a projected image, rather than an actual window. The view reappeared after a moment, this time showing a much closer view of the Damocles.

"Villetta, you have changed the magnification from twenty times to thirty times, correct?"

"Yes."

"Increase that to fifty times; I want to be able to see each individual knightmare in detail."

Villetta complied and the screen flickered once more, revealing the Damocles seemingly right in front of them. The flow of knightmares out of the main hangar had slowed to a trickle, and every frame appeared to be taking up defensive positions around the mobile base. Suzaku estimated there to be over four hundred and fifty frames, to the Black Knights' own remaining one hundred and fifty.

"It is as I thought…" he mused out loud, trying to assuage the fears of the lower-level soldiers. "Villetta, ensure that this view is routed to my display in the war room. Assign Squads Five and Ten to counter-attacking positions; I need them to hold off Schneizel's forces, should they attempt to launch an attack. That will be all."

Upon receiving her confirmation he turned to leave the room, pausing momentarily to catch the eyes of Tōdō and Cornelia. He deliberately brought his hand up to grasp the collar of his robe, lifting it slightly – the signal for a meeting in the war room. He didn't think he would ever be able to let go of the memory of his best friend, but their old signal worked effectively and wouldn't cause a panic among his troops.

His two Vice Commanders nodded resolutely, turning and heading off to gather the core group for the meeting. He took the long route towards the Command Centre, remaining deep in thought about ways to combat the far larger and better equipped force.

_'Could we…no, that wouldn't work.'_

Suzaku cursed inwardly; if only they hadn't destroyed the launcher on the FLEIJA, they would stand a much better chance. As it were, Schneizel had already fired four FLEIJAs at the Avalon. Each time they had been able to avoid the warheads despite the bulk of their ship, the missiles passing comfortably over them and detonating safely in the distance.

Twice, Schneizel had attempted to manoeuvre himself so that the Black Knights were positioned directly between his own forces and the Tokyo Settlement. It was a dirty tactic, to hold an entire city hostage; the full ten FLEIJAs presumably loaded and ready to fire. Only the skill of Guilford and Claudio Darlton, who had been jointly piloting the Avalon, had allowed them to clear the area before they could sustain heavy damages from Schneizel's frontal assault using his knightmare frames.

Suzaku growled under his breath. _'How can I possibly win this? This is a hopeless situation.'_ He had always been a warrior, not a tactician, and certainly not a strategist. His expertise was in piloting advanced knightmare frames; commanding a battle was Lelouch's forté. Their shared abilities had been what had made it possible for them to conquer the world with only a single Knight of Rounds – himself, the Knight of Zero.

Asking himself what Lelouch would do in this situation got him nowhere; Lelouch would think for a split second, inform everybody that 'the initial conditions had been cleared,' and proceed with some whacky battle strategy that nobody would have ever expected. Toppling half a building to pave a road towards the Chinese Consulate, twice overriding the controls on the Tokyo Settlement's interlocking plate network, driving a car directly towards seven knightmares during a high-security public execution and escaping with the prisoner – Suzaku didn't have a hope of coming up with something so elaborate, and even if he did, he would never be able to pull it off.

He reached the war room just as Cornelia was entering, being the last arrival himself. Ōgi and Villetta were participating via a video feed from their stations which appeared as he sat down. Guilford and Darlton engaged a similar system moments later. Tōdō got right down to business. "Zero, do you have a plan?"

Suzaku waited for a moment before responding evasively; it wouldn't do for them to lose faith in him at this point. "I was intending to hear your suggestions before I made my final decision. The enemy formation suggests that we may have some time before they launch an attack; does anyone have any information to report?"

Cornelia spoke first. "Ten minutes ago Squad Fifteen engaged an enemy squad a few miles to the right of the direct line to the Damocles. Only one of our frames was lost to their six." Those in the room who weren't aware of the final result smiled slightly at the small win, but their relief was soon crushed as Cornelia continued. "However, as they were retreating after destroying all of the enemy frames, a silver knightmare attacked from below, likely coming from the mainland. Two more of our units were lost; one pilot died and the other ejected to safety. We picked him up in a Caerleon a few minutes ago."

A few cringes could be seen around the table at her words, and both Guilford and Villetta opened their mouths to respond. Suzaku silenced them with a casual wave of his hand. "That must be similar to the frame Chiba mentioned in her report."

Cornelia seemed surprised. "What report?"

"Minutes before you previously entered this room, I was speaking on a direct video link with Chiba, who is currently leading Squad Seven on a specific mission. You were unaware of this because you had been organising the hangar as it was being carried out." This successfully cut off any objections she may have had about not being in the loop or concerns about bad communication, although ironically they'd had more than their fair share of communications issues in the past half an hour.

"The frame you mentioned attacked from below. Chiba's mission involved heading off a cargo truck which was being escorted by four knightmare frames. Three of the escorting frames were of the standard design Schneizel has been using, while the spearhead unit she described as being much more advanced – an eighth or possibly even ninth generation frame. It was equipped with one of Cécile's Energy Wing Systems."

Tōdō made to comment, but was similarly waved off by Suzaku. "Chiba's squad was able to capture the four pilots, as well as the truck, and they have all been executed. Their frames, however, were not able to be captured; liquid Sakuradite detonators attached to each pilot's chest destroyed them immediately upon their death." He paused and stood up, taking up where he left off as he paced slowly around the room.

"From what we have seen of Schneizel's battle tactics so far, it appears that for every squad he sends out, he employs the use of scouts regularly. I am assuming that they are used to supply a video feed, as well as to provide assistance if necessary, but it isn't certain what their purpose is. It is probable that, if he has more than one of these stronger frames, he may use them as his scouting units. The knightmare Squad Fifteen encountered was most likely the scouting unit he had sent with the escort squad."

Cornelia wrinkled her brow in confusion. "In that case, wouldn't the scout have made to assist its allies against Squad Seven?"

Suzaku's reply had already been crafted in preparation for that question. "It would have desired to, certainly, but have been unable to. The Gefjun Net Chiba's squad set up to capture the convoy was large enough to cover a significant portion of heavily forested land. If the pilot was outside of the net when it activated, then there would have been little he could do to recover his allies; the advanced knightmare he piloted would have been useless if he had to move on foot through the net. It is likely that he spotted the battle in the sky and decided to give his assistance where he knew it would be effective."

Tōdō nodded slowly. "So we have knowledge of two potential ninth generation frames, one which is a confirmed threat and one which has been destroyed. Have any more of these been spotted?"

"Not from what I have heard."

"Then there could be more of them in Schneizel's hangar?" he questioned, teeth grinding together in anger towards the Second Prince.

"Yes, there easily could be," Suzaku replied, pausing for a moment before continuing. "We should assume that this is a certainty."

Villetta interjected. "What did the cargo contain?"

Suzaku hesitated for a moment. "FLEIJA."

A few gasps were heard around the room and from the video screens. "FLEIJA?" Cornelia repeated. "Why was there a FLEIJA in the truck? I was under the impression Schneizel fired them from the Damocles."

"When we found the warhead, a launch system had been attached to it. The enemy squad's initial objective was to reach the point directly below the Avalon and fire it upwards towards us. We would have been unable to avoid it."

Tōdō grinned. "We could use that to destroy the Damocles if we can get an opening."

"No," Suzaku stated simply, the echoing voice of Lelouch Vi Britannia carrying far more weight than his own. "The truck had to be stopped with bullet fire, as it was unaffected by the Gefjun Net. When the FLEIJA was recovered, the launch system had been destroyed. We cannot use it in this battle; I have had it loaded onto a Caerleon to be taken to a remote testing facility where it can be studied to create a more effective countermeasure."

Tōdō's grin fell, and he dropped the issue. "What are our chances in an all-out frontal skirmish?"

"Very small. Schneizel's forces outnumber our own three to one, and are all of superior manufacture. We still have the Guren, Lancelot, Tristan and Mordred in the hangar, but if there are many more of these ninth generation frames, then they may not be enough. The Mordred in particular is at a disadvantage in this battle; its specialty is a high-powered offence – something we do not have the Sakuradite to fuel. We have been able to raise its speed slightly as we removed some of its more powerful weapons, but its key attribute at the present time is its defensive capabilities, which have remained more or less intact."

"Can the Tristan still switch between frame and fortress modes?" Tōdō asked, the gears in his head turning as he spoke. He had been on a mission for the duration of the week preceding the battle, when the final changes had been made to their four key frames, and as a result was unaware of the specifics of the adjustments. His personal frame, Zangetsu, had been destroyed a month earlier, having been rebuilt after its destruction at the hands of the Lancelot Albion. A replacement hadn't been possible to acquire before the battle.

"Yes, that function is still possible with our downgraded Tristan. However the transition takes a few seconds longer, so the unit is in freefall for about four seconds before it levels out."

The glint in the former Lieutenant Colonel's eyes vanished immediately; no doubt he had been working on a plan relying on an immediate conversion from the Tristan. Suzaku cursed inwardly; he had _almost_ been able to extract a working plan from Tōdō. _'If only we had more Sakuradite, this wouldn't be happening…'_

"Zero, what is your strategy?" Cornelia asked hurriedly; evidently she felt as if they were pressed for time. The frames outside the Damocles which were visible on the display hadn't moved yet, so Suzaku was still relatively comfortable in spending a few more minutes coming up with a plan, rather than confronting them head-on.

"I have no strategy," he admitted, his voice not shifting out of its commanding tone. "This battle has become an impossibility to win. Schneizel's numbers dwarf our own, and it can be assumed that he has access to more FLEIJA units. The best we could hope for is to engage his frames with our own and score victory there. Regardless, in the unlikely event that we do win, our army would be crippled beyond use. That being said, we will retreat."

Shocked expressions marred the faces of everyone in the room, as well as those corresponding via video link; Zero had just said that they couldn't possibly win the battle they had spent five months preparing for. Tōdō was the sole exception.

"Retreat?" Cornelia repeated, not quite sure that she had heard correctly.

Suzaku nodded. "Yes, we will retreat. There is no way for us to win this battle."

"…There is one way…"

All eyes snapped towards Tōdō, pleas for hope evident in their eyes.

"What way is that?" Suzaku enquired; something about the way he spoke gave him the feeling that he wouldn't like the plan he was proposing.

Tōdō stood silently, turning his back to the group and leaning with both palms resting on an inactive console. "We use the FLEIJA."

Suzaku raised an eyebrow behind his mask. "Chiba reported that the launch system on the FLEIJA we recovered has been destroyed. It is no longer capable of being fired at the Damocles."

The hopeful looks which filled the room were immediately dashed upon the words of Zero. Tōdō didn't answer for a moment, his hands gripping the sides of the panel until they begun to shake. When he replied, it was with clenched teeth and a pained voice.

"I know."

"Then what are you proposing? That we just send it in on the back of a knightmare?"

His Head of Military Operations remained silent, and Suzaku's eyes widened in alarm.

"You're crazy! That's a suicide run!" he shouted, leaping out of his seat and slamming a fist on the table.

"I know."

"No!" Suzaku barked. "There has to be a better way! I'll find one!"

Tōdō spun around, his voice booming with every ounce of authority he commanded. "There _is_ no better way!"

"Then we will have to retreat!"

"A battle you can't win and a battle lost are different! This battle is one we _can_ win! This is the _only_ battle was can win! If we withdraw now, we sacrifice our last chance to ever defeat Schneizel!"

Suzaku turned his back and strode over to the far control panel. He hunched over it and supported himself the same way Tōdō had; his fingers gripping the metallic surface with such force that he could feel the material give slightly under his grasp.

Tōdō was asking him to deliberately sacrifice someone. People died regularly in wars; this was something he had come to accept both about himself as a pilot, and about others as a commander. But never had he deliberately sent one of his men to their death. It would be giving up the life of one to save the lives of more than a hundred, yet it was completely against his principles.

It wasn't against Zero's principles, however.

"Fine, I will accept your proposal," he replied eventually, slowly turning to face the group and returning to his seat at the table. Tōdō relaxed slightly, but it was clear that his frustration wasn't with Zero, but due to his own inner turmoil over advocating a suicide mission for one of his soldiers.

"The FLEIJA we have acquired has been loaded onto Caerleon X-62," Suzaku stated apathetically; being an effective commander required you to kill your emotions, and now more than ever he would need to do so. "Its pilot is fanatically loyal and has stated that he will be willing to participate in any missions of this type."

A shudder went through the group at the thought of someone devoted enough to specifically volunteer for such a duty in advance. "A Caerleon won't be fast enough to penetrate their defences. It has to be a knightmare," Tōdō replied, leaving no room for debate in his voice.

"The Caerleon X-62's pilot has not had had the training required to operate a knightmare."

"Then the mission will fall to someone else."

Suzaku's fist clenched. "We could never get anyone else to volunteer for this mission; someone will have to be forced into it." He was clearly not happy with the idea of telling one of his pilots they were sending him to die. "Did _you_ have someone in mind?"

Tōdō opened his mouth to reply but was cut off.

"I'll do it."

All eyes snapped to Tamaki, sitting two seats to Tōdō's left. The man had been sitting in silence throughout the meeting – something which was not uncommon for him over the previous year.

Cornelia's jaw went slack. "Wha–"

"–I said I'll do it!" he snapped, his eyes blazing with resolve.

The rest of the room was silent for a moment in shock. Ōgi was the first to respond, almost choking as he addressed him.

"–What? Tamaki, do you reali–"

"I know _exactly_ what I'm doing!" he retorted, cutting him off mid-sentence. "I'm giving everyone a chance to win! I'm doing the only thing I _can_ do for this war now that will make a difference beyond adding one more knightmare pilot to be slaughtered and one more frame to be wasted!"

"But–"

"–Is it really any different that I would do it, rather than some nameless grunt whose face we wouldn't even remember ten minutes after we send him to his death? Answer me this, Ōgi: what gives Tamaki Shinichirō the right to live while someone else sacrifices their life for a cause he too believes in?"

"Because…b-because…" he stuttered, clenching his fist. "…because you're just Tamaki, Damnit!" Ōgi screamed, slamming his fist down onto his control panel and causing the transmission to falter slightly. A tear rolled down his cheek as he began to tremble.

"You're damn right I'm 'just Tamaki,' Ōgi!" he shouted. "What have I ever done for the Black Knights? I've seen the scoring system used to rank us; I scored the lowest! Fourty points! The closest to me was Chiba with a hundred and seventy-five! I've never once scored a decent hit on an enemy in a knightmare; I've probably ejected more times than I've fired bullets!"

The others could only listen in silence as he spoke; a bitter undertone to his voice betraying his self-loathing.

"What have I ever done for the Black Knights?" he repeated. "Waste our money on dinners? Waste our knightmares on a useless pilot? Tamaki Shinichirō, the great Internal Cleaning Supporter!" he finally declared, waving his arms around in imitation of Zero.

"But Tama–"

"–No! I don't want to hear it! I joined Naoto's resistance cell for a damn good reason! This is my chance to do something with meaning! Who the hell are you to take that away from me?"

Nobody spoke for a full minute after his challenge. More than one set of eyes around the room was watering; Suzaku's behind his mask were no exception. Ōgi's head was resting in his palms as he shook it backwards and forwards mouthing the word 'no' over and over again. When he finally spoke, it was with tears in his eyes and a quiver to his lips.

"You're really sure you want to do this, then?"

"You bet your ass I'm sure!" Tamaki declared with his first true grin since before the Black Knights' imprisonment at the hands of Lelouch Vi Britannia. It was as if the weight he had been carrying for the past year had finally been lifted off his shoulders – years of inability and failures absolved in a final act of purpose.

This was the _true_ Tamaki Shinichirō.

Ōgi's features curved into a bittersweet smile; he'd thought he'd never have his old friend back.

_'For him to be sacrificing his life so soon, though…'_

He clenched his teeth, drawing blood as his fingernails dug into his palms.

_'No, this is his decision…He has accepted his death…I think he did a long time ago.'_

He nodded towards his old friend, before turning and passing the equipment he was holding to his wife. "I'm handing full control over to Villetta. There's no way I'm letting you go without saying goodbye, Tamaki."

Tamaki smirked as he watched Ōgi leave the communications centre; he'd help Zero create a world where Japan could be free. It didn't matter whether Zero was the original or not; he was Zero, and that's what Zeros did – right?

Tōdō glanced at the display showing the Damocles once Ōgi's link had been severed, before turning his gaze back to Tamaki. "Despite what you say, you have served your country well. You will die a warrior's death – a hero's death. It is time to take your leave, Tamaki Shinichirō."

The ex-rebel nodded resolutely, the smirk still on his lips as he pulled a familiar red headband out of his pocket and tied it around his head for the first time in a year. He stood and left the room, pausing in the doorway to give a sharp salute.

Suzaku was barely staying in control of his emotions, but he knew that it had to be done for them to achieve victory. "Schneizel is preparing for a counter-attack. Tōdō, you will be First in Command for all internal matters on the Avalon. Cornelia, you will be Second in Command. I will take the Lancelot out to escort Tamaki, along with Gino and Anya."

"What? You stay in command; I'll take the Lancelot out. We need you aboard the Avalon."

Suzaku stood and walked towards the door, pausing in the exact same place Tamaki had moments before. He rested his left hand on the doorframe and replied with his back turned.

"No, Tōdō. This is your miracle. I will be with my men. If the King doesn't move, then his subjects won't follow; this is something I learned from a friend long ago."

* * *

**Main Hangar – The Avalon **

No words were exchanged among those who had arrived to see Tamaki off on his final mission. Suzaku, Ōgi, Minami and Kento each shook his hand firmly as he passed them; their stomachs clenching at the thought of what was about to happen.

Villetta had spoken to him via his headset as he made his way down to the hangar, being unable to leave the communications deck unattended despite the seriousness of the matter; if the plan failed because of a communication error, Tamaki's death would have been in vain.

Ōgi was the most visibly distressed out of everyone – Tamaki being one of his oldest friends – yet he did his best to put on a strong face in his honour.

As Tamaki finally stepped away from the group, the side doors slammed open to admit a clearly distraught Kallen. Pausing for only a moment to regain her bearings, she dashed at full speed towards the man, throwing herself at him and sobbing uncontrollably. Tamaki patted her on the back awkwardly for a few moments before she spoke.

"I…I heard what you're planning to do," she began, before pulling back and hitting him in the chest with almost no power behind her strike. "Why? Why are you doing this? Not you too! You betrayed me, Tamaki! You're just like him!"

He offered no response, instead staring at the back wall of the hangar absently. She continued to punch him; her blows getting progressively weaker as her arms began to fail her. Nobody made a sound as they watched her; Kallen had been the most affected by Lelouch's betrayal and death out of everyone.

"Not you too…" she murmured softly, collapsing to her knees.

Tamaki squatted down so he was face to face with her, reaching out his index finger to tilt her chin up so their eyes met. He gave her a smile and squeezed her shoulder gently. "Don't worry; this is what I have to do. You still have a very important part to play too, you know?

Kallen scoffed. "No I don't. I haven't even been able to pilot the Guren for months."

Tamaki grinned. "Sure you do!"

Kallen's eyes widened slightly in surprise as he stood, releasing her shoulder and waving his index finger around, tapping her once on each shoulder.

"I hereby dub you my successor," he proclaimed loudly with wild hand gestures. "Kallen Kōzuki, you must accept your station among the greats – as the Order of the Black Knights' second official Internal Cleaning Supporter!"

His expression was perfectly serious, but his eyes gave away the grin which was fighting valiantly to escape. Kallen couldn't help but let out a small smile through her tears.

"I accept."

Tamaki allowed the grin to finally spread across his face at her response. "Then rise, Dame Kallen Kōzuki."

He reached to his forehead and slowly removed his red headband as she stood, recalling all of the good memories he had gained while wearing it. His eyes trailed down to where the headband rested in his hand, squeezing it tightly in reminiscence. Their eyes met as he looked up, and he held the accessory out to her.

"Wha…This is…"

"Yes, Kallen," he replied, his voice adopting a solemn undertone. "I know you no longer possess your own. I won't mention what happened to it, but you must promise me that mine will not share its fate."

Kallen's eyes began to well up with tears again as she reached out to accept it. "Yes, I promise."

He nodded, and Suzaku's headset crackled.

"Zero?"

"This is Zero."

"Caerleon X-62 is preparing for landing."

"Give the order; there is enough room for it to land as it is."

"Right away."

The transmission cut off, and seconds later the ship in question pulled up in the centre of the hangar. Four technicians immediately scurried over to him for his orders.

"I want the FLEIJA unloaded and transferred into the cockpit of whichever Akatsuki is the fastest at the moment," he stated clearly, turning around and walking towards Gino and Anya.

"This is our turn, eh?" Gino asked casually, leaning against the leg of his Tristan as he spoke.

"Yes," Suzaku replied emotionlessly. "We will accompany Tamaki nineteen and a half of the twenty miles between us and the Damocles. From then it will be up to him; we will barely have enough time to escape the blast radius as it is."

Gino went to nod in response, but cut himself off, turning to look at Anya before returning his gaze to Zero. "What about Anya, though? The Mordred isn't nearly as fast as the Lancelot or the Tristan."

"The Mordred will stop at nineteen miles and provide ranged support. She should be able to retreat comfortably from that point."

Suzaku didn't listen for Gino's reply, one of the technicians scurrying up to him and informing him that the FLEIJA was in place. He strode over to the group and addressed Tamaki.

"It's time."

A nod was the only confirmation he received, the man turning towards his frame and climbing in. Suzaku, Gino and Anya followed suit immediately, starting up their own knightmares and joining him at the hangar door.

Those who remained on the floor lined up instantly and each gave a crisp salute, replicated immediately by his three escorts with the use of their frames.

Tamaki grinned wildly inside his frame, returning the salute with his own knightmare before turning towards the exit.

_'This is it. Time to prove to that fucker that I'm worth more than a fourty! Heh!'_

"Launching!"

* * *

**En Route to Damocles **

Suzaku released his left hand from its trigger, tapping a few buttons on the control panel to bring up Tamaki's video link.

"Tamaki, your job is to focus on evasion; Gino, Anya and I will defend you from any attacks. Only use your offensive weapons if you are being attacked and you can't evade, and we are unable we get to you in time. Is that clear?"

"Only attack if I can't evade and you can't protect me; got it."

"Good. There is a squad of thirty enemy frames approaching from ahead" he replied, bringing up video links for Gino and Anya before he continued. "Anya, you will pierce the centre with the Mordred; try to take out as many frames as you can, but your main objective is to open up a hole for Tamaki. You will continue on that path to ensure that he is not vulnerable to any frontal attacks."

The pink-haired girl pulled the Mordred's triggers together and two black visors flipped down to cover each of her eyes. "Understood."

"Gino, you will attack on the left side where the bulk of their numbers are concentrated. I will eliminate the right side and return to fully guarding Tamaki."

Gino nodded and readied his weaponry; evidently he didn't wish to engage in his fortress form. "Understood."

"Anya, fire the double hadrons straight down the centre, now!"

The enemy scattered as they saw the hadron canons being prepared, leaving only three to be caught in the blast and disintegrated. Suzaku cursed; they would have a larger battle on their hands than he had hoped for.

"Anya, ready them again and fire them sideways as you break through. Gino, try to find the closest possible path to Tamaki; you can eliminate them as they attack," Suzaku ordered, firing his slash harken to destroy a frame flanking him.

He spun around readying an MVS sword and dug it into the cockpit of another enemy knightmare, ripping it out downwards to split the machine in half. Another frame almost snuck up on him, but was destroyed comfortably by a hadron blast from Anya.

"I'm through!" Tamaki called over the internal line; him and Anya had managed to pierce the defences of Schneizel's units and were continuing onwards at full speed. Suzaku and Gino accelerated past the few enemies in front of them to cover Tamaki's exposed rear.

"Thirteen miles remaining," Suzaku stated, having just checked their location. "Eighteen of these enemies remain. We have to destroy them before we reach Damocles; Schneizel has hundreds of knightmares hovering around it and we can't afford to be watching our backs as we approach."

Suzaku darted towards the pursuing enemies and lashed out with both swords, destroying one instantly and tearing both legs off another. He twisted around and sent the amputated frame careening towards the ground with a kick, firing two slash harkens as he spun to wipe out another approaching pair.

Gino attacked left and right, tearing into his opponents with the Tristan's MVS polearms. He turned around just in time to slam the ends of his weapon together and block a heavy blow from a silver frame. The pilot withdrew his own MVS sword in a split second and sheared Gino's polearm in two, severing his left arm at the shoulder.

"Zero! I'm hit!"

Suzaku growled, slamming down on his controls and rocketing towards Gino, carving through four frames with his dual MVS swords and destroying another one with a slash harken. He grabbed the frame's arm just as it was drawing back to finish Gino and thrust his sword through the cockpit.

"Thanks, that was a close one."

Suzaku made no reply, instead drifting backwards to again take up a defensive position on Tamaki's flank. The entire wave had been destroyed, so Gino followed suit.

Tamaki grinned; everything was going according to plan so far. It was the first time he had ever felt comfortable in the cockpit of a knightmare. The comfort could never last, though, as he felt his frame jerk and begin to rapidly ascend.

"Zero! What the fuck is going on?"

Suzaku, hearing the collision, spun around in horror to see Tamaki's frame being forced upwards by an enemy knightmare which had rocketed into him from below. He chased after it and opened fire on the unit immediately, being careful not to hit Tamaki from below.

"Gino, shoot down that knightmare! Anya, hold your fire, you'll hit Tamaki if you use the Mordred's offenses!"

Tamaki mashed his eject button repeatedly, hoping to escape with the FLEIJA before it could accidentally detonate, but the mechanism was being jammed from the outside.

"Shit!"

He reached for the view adjuster in panic, switching to see a standard frame with both legs missing forcing him upwards rapidly. Swinging the Akatsuki's arms around to get into a better position, he managed to aim the handgun downwards and fired while drawing his sword.

The bullets bounced harmlessly off the armoured top of the enemy frame as he swung the sword downwards to block a blow from his opponent's arm. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed the approaching opposite limb moments too late.

The clawed hand tore through his cabin, missing him by a hairsbreadth. His eyes widened in panic as it drew closer to the FLEIJA.

_'No…not like this…'_

* * *

Gino and Suzaku raced after Tamaki's upwards spiralling knightmare, intent on destroying the frame before it could set off the warhead inside. He was less than a second out of range when he saw the frame tear into Tamaki's cockpit.

"WITHDRAW! FLEIJA!"

Suzaku screamed himself hoarse, spinning his knightmare around to fly at full throttle towards the Avalon.

"GINO! ANYA! GET OUT OF THERE!"

_'It's too late; we're not going to make it!'_ Suzaku inwardly cursed, urging the Lancelot on with everything he had.

His eyes took on a red tinge as the vile pink sphere reached out to vaporise him, only one word running through his head.

_**"LIVE!" **_

* * *

**Aerial Fortress Damocles **

Suzaku awoke in a darkened room, his hands chained to the wall above his head and his feet similarly shackled to the ground. He shook his head to clear it of the wooziness he felt upon waking and tried to think back to how he had been captured. Almost instantly his eyes widened in horror.

_'The FLEIJA…That means…Tamaki…That means he died for nothing!'_ He bit his lip to stop himself from screaming out. _'Gino…Anya…did they escape? What happened to the others? Did we lose? Is everyone dead? Did–"_

"–Ah! I see my guest has awakened."

Suzaku flinched in surprise, before straining his eyes in the direction of the voice. A black silhouette on the opposite side of the room stood from its chair and made its way to the wall, flicking a switch. Light flooded the room and Suzaku snarled at his captor.

"I haven't removed your mask yet," the Second Prince stated in amusement. "I thought it would be courteous to wait until you were awake before I found out who you were."

"So you won, then?" Suzaku spat bitterly, images of his past failures flashing periodically through his head.

"Yes, I did."

"You killed everyone, then?" he screamed, his composure finally cracking as he struggled furiously against his chains.

"No, not quite," Schneizel replied calmly, returning to his seat. "I left your command level alive, if that's what you're asking. They will be the proof for years to come that there isn't any point in going against me; any resistance they attempt to put up will be futile."

"So am I supposed to believe that you're just going to let me go?" Suzaku growled, his fists clenching above his head.

Schneizel's facial expression remained apathetic. "No. You will be publicly executed."

Suzaku's eyes widened behind his mask. It wasn't that he was afraid of death – he had accepted it long ago – it was that in death he would be unable to carry out Lelouch's final request; the death of Zero would be turned into a spectacle, and the people's hope would be crushed.

"What happened to Gino and Anya?"

Schneizel sighed, although Suzaku could tell it was just for show. "Both are dead; they were killed in the FLEIJA blast." Before he could reply, Schneizel stood and walked over to stand in front of him.

"Now," he began. "Let's see who's under my little brother's old mask."

Suzaku could do nothing but clench his teeth and correct his posture in defiance as the man's fingers drew closer to the side of his mask. With a slight tug, the mechanism released and the mask was removed.

"Kururugi Suzaku! Now _this_ is a surprise!" Schneizel mused softly, yet still in one of the most emotional tones he had ever heard the Second Prince use. "I thought Kallen killed you aboard the old Damocles. How ironic, you truly are The Betrayer, aren't you?"

Suzaku schooled his featured before he could accidentally let out a sigh of relief.

_'Schneizel doesn't know about Zero Requiem…'_

Voices were heard outside the door and Suzaku turned to face it; Schneizel seemed to be expecting the interruption and walked over to open it. Through the doorway, Suzaku could make out a guard who appeared to be arguing with a man in a hooded cloak. Both of them turned to face the prince when he spoke.

"Don't worry, he's with me."

The guard turned red with embarrassment as he let the man through; he had obviously been keeping him from entering.

The two of them walked back towards Suzaku in silence, coming to a stop a few feet away from him. The cloaked man pulled his hood back slowly, revealing light hair and a fair complexion.

Suzaku pressed himself up against the wall in shock.

"You…It couldn't be…But you're…"

* * *

**A/N: Phase 3 finally complete! That one took a while!**

**Note: Tamaki and Kallen have been victims of _serious_ depression for a year.**

**On Schneizel: Theres a good reason he isn't acting subordinate to Zero, but thats a plot twist, so I can't tell you yet =P**

**EDIT: Oh and Kallen's name is [given name] [surname] when she's talking to Tamaki because he's mocking the Britannian system lol  
**

* * *

**What I would like to hear about if you decide to review:**

**1. What did you think of my mecha battle? I know I'm not great at them but I had a fair crack at it for you ;)**

**2. Which episode did they show Suzaku killing his father? This has nothing to do with my story but it's really bugging me!**

**3. Who do you think the man in the cloak was at the end? Special mention in the chapter it's revealed for the first one to guess it!  
**

**4. General thoughts on the rest of the chapter**

* * *

**I'd really like to finish Phase 4 tomorrow and give you all a special 'My Birthday' present for Tuesday (2/12), but in all likelihood it won't be finished until Wednesday (keep in mind that I'm in Australia - we're generally a day ahead of America). On the other hand, I think Phase 4 will be shorter than 5,000 words (this one was 6,500 without author notes), so you never know, I just might finish it tomorrow!**

**Cheers,**

**Lord Bear  
**


	4. Phase 4

**Four Weeks Later**

**The Headquarters of The Order of the Black Knights**

Kallen sat down on the edge of her bed, pulling a black boot over her right foot. Her eyes were unfocussed as she dressed, staring blankly in front of her as if searching for something beyond the wall.

Her room was sparse; a single bed lined one wall, while an old wooden cabinet leant against another. The remnants of the Order of the Black Knights had not been living in luxury for the past four weeks. They had so much momentum coming into the final battle, so much spirit, so much hope. Everything seemed to be going well, despite their disadvantage in number and technology, yet Schneizel managed to crush their hopes completely in one fell swoop.

Zero had been captured.

Even when almost the entire organisation had been held captive by the Second Prince, they had always maintained high spirits. Zero would come for them; he would find a way to rescue them despite the overwhelming odds. Even those who knew that Lelouch had been the original Zero believed this. Zero was their symbol for hope, the proof that they could still create a new world without Britannia's oppression. When Schneizel had captured Zero, he had captured what little hope the Black Knights had left.

After the FLEIJA had detonated, Schneizel's forces immediately boarded the Avalon, destroying every Caerleon within seconds. The Black Knights had been disarmed quickly, only a few managing to take down one or two of Schneizel's men before being shot down.

Kallen dropped her left boot and lay back on the bed, closing her eyes for a moment.

* * *

**The Avalon**

The Black Knights had been shackled together in groups of ten within the main hangar and watched over by pairs of guards carrying submachine guns. They were ruthless, letting out a spray of bullets every time someone even looked like they were making some sort of attempt to escape. Sometimes these bullets hit other prisoners than those who had moved, and sometimes they didn't, yet the guards would always, without fail, kill their target.

That was their method of putting down resistance; anyone who wanted to play hero would not only sacrifice their own life, but the lives of others who hadn't fought back. It was a brutal method, but it was extremely effective none the less.

One group at a time, they were taken into another room adjacent to the hangar with fear in their eyes. One or two resisted again, but they were instantly put to death. The rest of the prisoners were forced to continue walking towards the room dragging the body, still shackled to their chain at the wrist. Everyone outside could hear the gunshots and screams begin once the door shut, and instantly realised the horrible truth.

They were being exterminated.

More people panicked and tried to break free, but the result never changed. Every one of them was still bound to the rest of their group, so they rarely made it further than a few feet by pulling their allies before themselves and a number of the group were gunned down.

Kallen herself had been part of the regular attack forces during the battle; her skill as a pilot had once been formidable, but since Lelouch's execution she had been nothing but a shadow of her former self.

Her group was being held in a small alcove behind her once beloved Guren frame. She smiled sadly to herself; if only she had one more chance to pilot it, maybe everything would come back to her; maybe she could regain some of the feeling she had lost so long ago. It never made any difference how many chances they gave her, though; every time it would be one more, one more, but she would never show any improvement.

"Get up."

Kallen ground her teeth together as the guard spat orders in her face. These weren't Schneizel's pilots, these were just grunts. They had arrived on transport ships similar to the Caerleons after the knightmares had secured the Avalon, rather than flying over in their own knightmares. These were the ones Schneizel used to do his dirty work – the filthy rats of European society who had been seduced with false promises of nobility in return for aiding Schneizel in his take-over.

Kallen obeyed immediately, as did the rest of the group; there wasn't really much choice when faced with an armed guard who had been proven to have no reservations about shooting anyone at will. Her mind was blank as she stood and moved to follow the guard, her eyes empty of all emotion. There was a small chance they weren't going to be killed, or that the guard would release them, but there was no point worrying about that; she had no power to affect it either way.

They were herded through the door and into another large room, yet nowhere near as big as the main hangar. Kallen recognised it as the same room she had entered from when she had seen Tamaki off. She bit back a sob.

_'Damn you Tamaki, in the end it was all for nothing. You died for nothing, Tamaki. Just like Lelouch did. Both of you had such high hopes for the world after your deaths, but they never changed a thing!'_

A few gasps and screams came from the rest of her group as the guard stepped aside. The walls of the room were coated in blood, and on the far side was a crude stack of bodies, each bearing the bloodstained and torn uniforms of the Order of the Black Knights. Four men stood on the opposite side of the room holding machine guns with empty casings littered around them.

It was truly an execution chamber in every sense.

One of the men clipped the gun onto his belt and walked towards a desk in the centre of the room, picking up a clipboard which had been the lone object sitting on it. He started from the side opposite Kallen and began to walk down the line, his eyes flicking between each face and the clipboard. Kallen assumed he had a list of valuable hostages on the page; it wouldn't be good for him if someone like Cornelia or Tōdō had been put to death without permission.

Heavy footsteps signalled his appearance in front of her. She made no effort to look up at him, letting in a sharp breath when she felt his rough hands grip her chin and force it up so it was level with his. Their lips were barely an inch apart, and Kallen could smell the putrid scent of alcohol on his breath.

"Ohh? Kōzuki Kallen, is it?"

She tore her head out of the man's grasp and returned her gaze to the floor. There was no way she would ever let someone like him use her body for his own entertainment. She slowly moved her tongue to the front of her mouth, placing it between her teeth and preparing to bite down if it came to that.

"His Highness has decided you are more valuable to him alive."

Kallen relaxed slightly as her shackles were undone, wincing slightly as one swung into her shin as it fell. She wouldn't allow herself to drop her guard yet, however; Schneizel thinking her more valuable alive could mean almost anything. She could become his personal servant, be sold or given to a noble as a sex slave, released again, killed by him personally or any number of other distasteful scenarios.

It was possible he would release her, having done so before, although now that he had Zero in his custody, he would almost certainly be preparing mass public executions for the command-level Black Knights. Why she would be included in that, she had no idea; it had been months since she had been a part of the leadership group.

The guard walked her roughly back out into the main hangar just as the gunshots and screams began inside. Kallen shivered slightly as she heard them, and again when she noticed that the guard escorting her made no visible reaction to the slaughter, save for a slight smirk touching his lips.

She clenched her fist in fury. _'That bastard! He's enjoying this! He's enjoying hearing them die!'_

Other Black Knights who had yet to be taken into the room looked at her as she passed with varied expressions on their faces. Some held confusion as to why she was released, others showed envy, knowing they were next. Some looks were compassionate, praying for her that she was not being walked towards a far worse fate, while many of her allies simply stared blankly, as if not noticing her at all.

She was led through corridor after corridor until eventually they stopped outside the Command Centre. The guard knocked, waiting a few moments for a reply before opening the door and pulling her inside. Tōdō, Cornelia, Ōgi, Villetta, Chiba and the others were individually chained to separate sections of the wall which enclosed the circular room.

A few of them let out a thankful sigh or called her name when she came into view, but she barely noticed them, instead focusing on the chains which were being used to shackle her to what appeared to be a section of wall specifically reserved for her. As soon as she was in place, the guard vacated the room and a voice spoke.

"It seems you've lost."

Nobody made any move to reply, instead avoiding the Second Prince's eyes as his gaze drifted over them. Kallen was surprised he had boarded the Avalon himself, only an hour and a half after capturing it. It seemed to be a very dangerous move for him to make; there could still be rebels aboard the ship who had not been captured and were planning his assassination.

Not only was there danger involved, but the primary function of Schneizel's forces on the ship was the organised execution of the Black Knights; it was something a Britannian Prince would greatly prefer to stay well away from in person. The fact that he had boarded it meant that he had some ulterior motive, other than overseeing the operation.

"Zero is alive."

Every head snapped up immediately at this statement and their hope rose slightly; they had been sure that Zero had died in the blast. Nobody smiled though; Schneizel seemed to have something more to say. It was likely that he would be using them to flush Zero out of hiding.

"He is now under my care."

Instantly, their hopes were brutally crushed. If Zero had been caught as well, there was no hope for the resistance. There _was_ no resistance any longer. They had no worth to Schneizel anymore; now that he had Zero, there was little chance they would receive anything other than a public execution.

Cornelia cringed. Almost everyone had been on the Avalon for the battle; they fully expected it to be a do or die scenario. Only their members' families had not been part of the assault, as well as Nunnally, who was unsuited for taking part in any level of combat, and Sayoko, who had remained as Nunnally's personal bodyguard.

If all of them were executed, including Zero, then unless another competent Zero came out of nowhere, Nunnally would be the only one left who had any chance of successfully leading a resistance. Cornelia didn't want that future for her; Nunnally would never be able to cope with the harsh realities of a leader's decisions.

Kallen growled under her breath at his words. Of course Schneizel wouldn't say he had captured Zero, he would put it far more elegantly than that. Moments later, something registered in her head, and she looked up to see Schneizel already looking at her. Putting aside the feeling of unrest created from knowing he had pre-empted her response, she spoke.

"So you know his face, do you?"

"Yes, I do. The question is, do you?"

The Black Knights were silent at his response; in truth, none of them had seen it. Kallen bit down on her tongue softly to keep herself from saying anything she might regret later. She knew that Schneizel wanted them to guess, to toy with them a bit before doing whatever he planned on doing with them.

Regardless, part of her wanted to shout her suspicion of it being Suzaku despite being unable to think of a reason why she would want that. Another deeper, much more hidden, part of her urged her not to. It was true that to a degree she had been in denial about Lelouch's death; the voice-masker she knew to be attached to every Zero mask allowing her to, on occasion, pretend it was Lelouch behind it. She feared hearing an absolute statement asserting that it wasn't.

Ōgi spoke up first, ignoring Schneizel's question. "What will happen to us?"

The rest of them understood Ōgi's desperation for survival and accepted it. If both he and Villetta died, their child would be left to grow up an orphan. It was unfair that they both had to participate so heavily in the resistance, but the Black Knights needed them. Both would still give their lives for the Order, although now it would be with regret and a heavy heart, unlike Ōgi's previous complete acceptance of death.

"You will go free."

All eleven sets of eyes around the room focussed on him immediately. He was going to let them go? Again? Ōgi and Villetta simultaneously gasped in relief, while everyone else maintained far more guarded expressions.

"Why?" Cornelia challenged immediately. "You've got Zero; you don't need us to lure him out anymore."

"True, I do have Zero," he began calmly. "And he will receive a public execution. Zero is an icon for resistance; killing him now will destroy that hope, but in years to come it may come back. When that hope returns, there will be another Zero to take the place of the current one, and that Zero will go directly to the Order of the Black Knights."

Cornelia ground her teeth together in rage; she knew where this was going.

"Another Zero will give me another chance to prove that their hope is not immortal. Zero _can_ die, and _will_ die. The world will see that no Zero can ever hope to stand against Britannia." He spoke in his typical manner, showing none of the arrogance that one would normally associate with such a declaration.

"And so you will all be set free once again. You will reform your resistance from nothing, and with a new Zero, you will fight Britannia," he continued. "The deaths of every member who has ever joined the Order of the Black Knights will be on your hands, and over time the people will reject you, turning instead to Britannia for peace."

"That is how I will create an ideal world."

* * *

**The Headquarters of The Order of the Black Knights**

At that moment, it was obvious to all of them that Schneizel had won. If they dropped the resistance, Schneizel won; if they continued it, Schneizel won. It was an easy choice to make; they would continue to fight against Britannia, but that choice had never been taken away from them. The longer it took them to succeed, the more people would turn against them. They would create a peaceful world, but they would do so by unwillingly forcing the world under Britannia's will. After that it didn't matter if they had the power to defeat Britannia; the world wouldn't want them to.

"Kallen? The cars will be here soon, you'd better wait downstairs with the others," Villetta's voice drifted in from the doorway.

Kallen sighed and pulled herself into a sitting position on her bed. "Coming."

Once she finished getting dressed, she slowly descended the stairs and walked into the living room. The mood was sombre, and everyone save for Villetta was seated on the four couches set around the room. Kaguya looked up and patted the couch next to her, giving Kallen a sad smile as she made her way over.

Ōgi, Minami and Kento were seated opposite Kallen. They seemed to be coping the worst out of everyone in the room; Ōgi in particular had never quite recovered from Tamaki's death. The remaining thirteen members of the Order of the Black Knights had been divided into two groups for living arrangements, and each group had managed to acquire two conjoining floors of apartment buildings across the road from each other. Ōgi, Villetta, Minami, Kento, Kaguya and Kallen lived in one, while Tōdō, Chiba, Cornelia, Guilford, Darlton, Nunnally and Sayoko lived in the other.

In the four weeks since Schneizel had once again crushed their hopes, they hadn't had any sort of success at all. Only a handful of frames had been left battle-ready by his forces, and even the Lancelot and Guren had been stripped of a few of their more powerful weapons. Only fourty-three membership requests had been received, and from them only thirty-eight officially joined – the others backing out at the last minute.

They had very little time to work with thanks to Schneizel. Tōdō estimated that if they were to ever successfully defeat him, then they would need to do it within eighteen months or they would become the people's enemy. Furthermore, if they could not make significant progress within six months, it was all over.

The future seemed bleak for them. To make 'significant progress' would mean to restore their battle capacity to slightly over half of what it was when they entered the last battle. Without the financing, manpower or initial resources they'd had access to previously, it looked impossible even to the perpetually optimistic Kaguya.

Now, more than ever, they needed Lelouch.

They had lost the Tristan and Mordred frames too, not to mention the pilots. The funerals for Gino and Anya were conducted by Odysseus personally in Britannia, as was the custom for the Knights of Round. Regardless of the circumstances of them leaving service, they would always receive the traditional royal funeral, second in extravagance only to those of the Imperial Family themselves.

The final insult had come when Schneizel personally penned all thirteen of them letters inviting the remaining Black Knights to their funerals. He hadn't stopped there, however, going as far as to arrange all their transportation, accommodation and an itinerary fit for a tourist at his own expense.

The letters had been received during one of their many meetings, and chaos had broken out. They would never refuse to attend the funerals of two of their counterparts, but not a single person wanted to accept Schneizel's financing of their endeavour to pay respects to their fallen comrades.

Eventually, Tōdō had been the first one to argue the contrary, followed closely by Cornelia. Regardless of how despicable the offer was, drying up their own funds was not an acceptable course of action, nor was it something Gino and Anya would have wanted. He mentioned that if Gino had been around to advise them, he would likely have been impressed at the opportunity to leech away Schneizel's funds.

It had been a disgusting feeling to have to reschedule Tamaki's funeral, which had been on the day between Gino's and Anya's, but they were unsure if it had anything to do with Schneizel. Tamaki's funeral wasn't a publicised event, but it was still possible that the timing had been deliberate. Still, the royal funerals were not something they could possibly reschedule themselves, and they wouldn't miss any of the three.

Tamaki's funeral started in two and a half hours.

A few footsteps were heard on the stairs and Villetta came into view moments later. She flipped her mobile phone shut and placed it inside her purse. "The cars are here."

They stood silently as a group and followed the silver-haired woman towards the stairwell. Sayoko had been babysitting Villetta's and Ōgi's child that morning while she made some last minute preparations, so the baby would be returned to its parents when both groups met up at the funeral.

The drive passed in total silence. They had procured two large transports similar in size to their old mobile bases for use, so everyone was able to travel together without hiring something similar to a limousine; they all felt that such a vehicle would be distasteful due to its regular use in celebratory events.

The temple which had been selected for Tamaki was situated two hours drive away from the Tokyo Settlement; Britannia had not attempted to destroy those in Tokyo, but had given them a five year period with which to cease operations and move outside the settlements when they originally invaded.

When the vehicle finally pulled up in a dense section of forest, the group disembarked and made their way down the path which continued through the trees towards the temple. They were met by the other group at the entrance, and once the Ōgis' child had been returned, entered together.

Kallen and Ōgi immediately made their way over to the casket, which was surrounded by a variety of decorations the group had decided on previously. Next to the arrangement was a small table, having been set up by the temple. Because of the difficulty in getting to the temple two days in a row, they would generally accept condolence money and other offerings right up to the funeral itself, which would be placed on the table to be sent to the grieving party after the ceremony.

A large number of envelopes lay stacked together from the many Japanese who knew of Tamaki and admired him, but didn't attend both the wake and funeral due to not knowing him personally. More than a few cards stood on their ends around the tables from Britannians who had similar sentiments about the man, but weren't aware of the regular customs of the Japanese people.

A particularly extravagant card caught her attention at the front of the table, decorated with metallic gold lining. Kallen smiled at the generosity and picked the card up, her smile turning instantly to fury as she read it.

"…Schneizel!"

Ōgi's neck snapped towards her instantly. "What?"

"That bastard left a card! How dare he!" she hissed as she clenched her fists at her sides. Her voice was quiet but full of hate, trying to express her anger without disrespecting Tamaki by losing her composure at his funeral.

Ōgi was shocked. "He didn't, did he…"

He trailed off as he looked towards the table at where Kallen had removed the card from. In the space which had been between the front and back of the card stood a White King. Kallen was about to respond but forgot what she was going to say as she traced his gaze. She began to shake as her own came to rest upon the arrogant gesture.

"That bastard…that bastard…I'll kill him myself! I'll–"

Ōgi put a hand to her mouth and used his other to restrain her; she was quickly losing her composure. When she finally calmed down enough for him to safely release her without an outburst he let go, his hand immediately snaking out to grasp her wrist as she attempted to knock the King to the ground with a wild swing.

He turned to look into her eyes and shook his head, telling her not to attempt that again. She seemed equal parts confused and angry, before he reached over with his other hand and gently tipped the King onto its side with his index finger.

All of Kallen's anger fell away at that simple gesture; Schneizel had only given them one more reason to make sure they would defeat him.

Leaving the White King lying at the front of the table as if they had placed it there on its side by themselves, the pair made their way back towards the rest of the funeral party. The funeral was an open one; Tamaki would have wanted his to be a big occasion with as many people remembering him as possible, rather than a private affair. There were at least fifty people in attendance.

Nobody seemed to really stand out. A few Kallen knew to be relatives of those in the Order of the Black Knights and either had some form of contact with Tamaki or simply admired him. She winced slightly when she realised that every family member of a Black Knight in the room had just lost a loved one forever. A few wouldn't look at them as they moved towards the front of the ceremony, but none seemed to be angry with them; if they did blame them, it was a reflex, rather than a conscious decision.

For some reason, her gaze was repeatedly drawn to two figures in the back of the crowd. One wore a black suit with a white tie, clearly giving him away as a male. His face was completely hidden by a black baseball cap, but dark hair could be seen sticking out at the sides and further obscuring his face.

The person next to him was obviously a woman from her frame, although she too hid her identity. A long black dress covered her body down to the ankles, allowing a pair of black high heels to be seen on her feet. On her head she wore a more extravagant headpiece than her partner, although its primary function of guarding her identity was comfortably fulfilled.

Kallen wasn't sure why she was paying extra attention to these two. Wearing some sort of headpiece to avoid showing your face was generally considered extremely rude at a funeral, but in the case of a resistance member's, it was accepted as a necessity for those who wished to protect themselves from reprisal due to association with the Black Knights. She shook her head of the thoughts and returned her attention to the ceremony.

A few hours later the funeral and cremation had both been completed, as well as the burial in the temple's personal cemetery.

"Are you coming to the execution?"

Kallen jumped, slightly startled by Cornelia who had walked up behind her. She turned to face her and tried to respond, but couldn't form words. Biting her lip, she looked towards the ground and finally managed to speak.

"No…I don't…I don't think I can…"

Cornelia smiled sadly, pulling Kallen into an embrace as the girl let out a few tears. The public execution of Zero was scheduled to be held that evening and Kallen still seemed undecided about whether or not she would attend. The rest of the Black Knights were going to honour their leader, but to go would also mean to acknowledge that Schneizel has the power to kill Zero – to kill their hope.

The older woman released Kallen slowly as her tears came to a stop, keeping a supportive hand on her shoulder. "The vehicles are ready."

Kallen nodded and they turned to leave. She stopped for a moment on the way out, turning back for one last look at Tamaki's ceremony. Her gaze was immediately drawn to the man wearing the baseball cap, who had made his way over to the table next to the arrangement.

He reached into his pocket silently and withdrew something she wasn't able to recognise from a distance. Murmuring a few words, he spent a moment positioning the object on the table and left, hesitating slightly as he brushed past her in the doorway.

Kallen slowly walked towards the table, curiosity overcoming her. She looked down when she reached it and a genuine smile passed across her features.

The White King lay in pieces, a Black King standing proudly over it.

* * *

**A/N: Well that's Phase 4 done. One of my reviewers was somewhat disappointed with me having too many cliffhangers, so instead of the chapter I had planned (which would have ended in one), I decided to go into far more detail with the flashback to the Avalon. The result was that a lot of what was planned in this chapter will go into the next one, which is good, considering the next one was going to be fairly short otherwise. :)**

**EDIT: BIG(!) thank you to one of my anonymous reviewers, who pointed out that Ōgi is his surname and not his given name. All the switching around between Britannian and Japanese ways of saying them confused the hell out of me while watching Code Geass, so I'm glad I've finally got it right (I hope lol). I've gone back and fixed up everything I saw, but I might have missed it once or twice. And anonymous, that's not nitpicking! It was a pretty big problem and I'm really glad you cleared that up for me. Cheers!**

**I'll repost that bit at the end of the next chapter because a lot of people have already read this one, so they'll end up missing it.  
**

* * *

**What I would like to hear about if you decide to review:**

**1. What did everyone think about my Schneizel? I tried to make him very serene in person, but aggressive in his strategies. (think Damocles)**

**2. Again, how's my Kallen shaping up?**

**3. Did I do a decent job with the funeral? Was there anything I was mistaken about in Japanese culture pertaining to it? I've personally never been to Japan and haven't researched their funeral customs in depth during my studies, so I'm not entirely sure.**

* * *

**Phase 5: The Execution of Zero:**

**I'll do my best to have Phase 5 out in a few days; this one was difficult to write because I had to basically start from scratch, having changed my original plans and shoved some of the plans for this chapter into the next one.**

**Cheers,**

**Lord Bear**


	5. Phase 5

**7:00 PM**

**Shinjuku Ghetto**

The two transports carrying the remaining Black Knights finally pulled into an alleyway at the edge of the Shinjuku ghetto. Halfway down its length, a second alleyway met with it in a T-intersection turning towards their left. Darlton and Tōdō made the turn with some difficulty due to the size of their vehicles and the tight corner, and were immediately faced with a dead end.

Minami grumbled and stepped out into the alleyway. The walls directly in front of them and to the right both appeared to be concrete and were painted in a dark grey tone. The wall to their left was similarly designed, save for a rusty door twenty feet or so away from the far wall. Above the door was a dirty sign marking it as the delivery entrance to a green grocer.

He casually made his way over to the door and pressed a small white button on its right. A bell sounded throughout the store, although the sound was muffled by the heavy door. Slightly less than a minute later, a rectangular section of metal slid away and was replaced by a pair of eyes.

"What's the number?"

"Twenty-three."

The man behind the door grunted in approval, sliding the peephole closed and unlocking the door from the inside. Minami reached out and opened it in time to see the owner passing back into the front of his shop. He turned to the right and walked to the far wall, searching for the keypad he knew to be there.

It took him a few minutes to find it and input the code, feeling somewhat embarrassed for keeping the rest of the group waiting. It was only the first time he'd ever been inside the shop; recently Tōdō had been doing it, but he was currently busy driving.

Up until a few weeks ago it had been Tamaki's job to get out and work the keypad, on the basis that any work in the back of a fruit shop was right up the alley of the Internal Cleaning Supporter. Technically he could have forced the job onto Kallen – Tamaki having given up his post to her – but she hadn't been herself for a long time and something like that wouldn't help her.

Minami himself had no idea what was wrong with their old ace pilot. He knew that there was something more than depression affecting Kallen, but he wasn't close enough to her to know for himself what it was.

It was obvious to all of the Black Knights that Tamaki and Kallen had been growing much closer over the past year, to the point where they had developed something of a brother-sister relationship. More than one person, Minami included, could tell that Tamaki was aware of whatever was affecting her, although he seemed to be the only one who was. Still, everyone was thankful that she had at least confided in someone, although they didn't know whether she had specifically told him, or he had discovered it inadvertently.

Everybody was reluctant to ask Tamaki what he knew; they respected Kallen enough not to encroach on her privacy if she was unwilling to confide in them. Most of them had avoided questioning either of the two, at least. Ōgi had been the only one ever to confront Tamaki, insisting that he needed to know in order to fulfil a promise he made to Naoto – to protect Kallen.

Tamaki had replied that she wasn't a little girl anymore and didn't need his protection, speaking in a darker tone than most of them had ever seen him use before. Ōgi was slightly taken aback by his vehemence, but persisted with his questioning on the basis that it had to be something really serious for Tamaki to become so hostile about it.

After fifteen minutes of increasingly aggressive argument, Tamaki finally snapped. Just as Ōgi was about to make another counter-argument, Tamaki threw a loaded right hook, catching him unaware and slamming him into the hallway wall.

The rest of the Black Knights had been in shock; Ōgi's jaw had been dislocated and there was some blood on the ground where he had fallen. Next to Kallen, Tamaki had been the second best hand-to-hand fighter in their original resistance cell, but he'd never used his skills outside the dojo or one of their missions. They had thought that he would say something to Ōgi, but instead he'd just scowled at him and walked off.

Ōgi's comrades had been somewhat disappointed with him, but were over it in a few days. Tamaki, however, took almost a week to remain in his company without aggression, and over three to return to their previous dynamics. He felt somewhat guilty about punching him, knowing Ōgi's motives were only of concern for Kallen, yet he refused to make an apology. Kallen had explicitly told him that she didn't want any of the others to know about her condition. If it couldn't be treated, then there was no point worrying them; she would just have to do everything she could to help the Black Knights win the war before she succumbed to its grasp.

Minami had been absent for the confrontation, being filled in by Cornelia when he returned later that night. His knowledge only extended as far as Ōgi stepping out of line when questioning Tamaki about something to do with Kallen. Being unaware of what was actually affecting Kallen and not hearing the argument, he wasn't able to form much of an opinion about the events other than being slightly disappointed in Ōgi and commenting to Cornelia that he would make a great father one day.

Shrugging, he made his way back out into the alleyway, making sure the door had locked behind him. At the point where it met the building straight in front of the vehicles, the road had dropped down considerably, creating a fifteen metre long ramp leading into an underground car park.

The hidden vehicle depot was just one of many ways the Black Knight secured their resources. Another was to use the fruit shop. The owner was an unwavering supporter of theirs and had agreed to allow them to place the keypad activating the entrance in the back of his shop. All he had to do was ask for a number; if a Britannian was investigating them, they would almost certainly guess either 'Zero' or 'Eleven,' so he could simply tell them that he wasn't expecting an order with that number and report back to the Black Knights about it.

These sorts of safeguards were a necessity for the Order of the Black Knights. It was perfectly safe for them to be seen in public, but their resources needed to be kept well hidden. They knew Schneizel wouldn't take any action against them in person, thanks to his plans to use their resistance for his own ends; he'd had plenty of chances before, but he'd never taken any. What he _had_ done repeatedly is confiscate their resources and cut them off from supply routes, leaving them with no chance of successfully launching a rebellion.

Schneizel was virtually in control of all of their actions, influencing their moves to improve his own position in the game. He was playing both the White side and the Black side of the board at once; by claiming them as his own pieces, he made sure that they had no chance of winning. Zero was an acceptable King for them to have, but ultimately Schneizel had power over even him.

Since the battle which had lost them almost their entire army, he'd gained complete control over Zero; the public execution was scheduled to start in a little under an hour. He would begin the cycle again once Zero had been killed. He would allow them to have another King and build up their defences for a while, before he swooped and killed that one too.

It was all a matter of how many checkmates he could attain and how many victories he could show the public before he felt that they were no longer necessary, putting the board away and declaring himself the victor.

Minami followed the two transports into the depot, pausing as he entered to enter the same code into another keypad on the inside wall. Two heavy duty mechanical lifts raised the section of road back up to its original position as two more moved into place to hold it there on a more permanent basis.

Cornelia took charge as they disembarked, ushering everyone towards a key-coded stairwell entrance which led up to the main street. Everyone knew exactly how to get in and out perfectly, but nobody mentioned it; she obviously needed to do something to keep her mind focussed.

They made their way towards the execution grounds in total silence. Their group was still wearing the black mourning clothes they had worn to Tamaki's funeral, so they stood out easily. A few startled gasps came from people in the street as they recognised either Tōdō or Cornelia, both of whom were easily identifiable. Many more shed a tear as they passed; whether it was for a loved one who had died as a Black Knight or for their leader Zero who was about to be executed, they couldn't tell.

It was ironic that they would have to attend Zero's execution on the day Tamaki's funeral was held, prompting them to attend still in their mourning clothes. More than one of them smiled sadly as they came to similar conclusions. Zero always did have a flair for the dramatic; his subordinates attending his execution as such would mark a great defiance. Schneizel didn't want to kill them off, so allowing the public to identify them completely would go a long way to restoring some of the hope which would be inevitably lost with Zero's death.

Cornelia scowled as the execution grounds came into sight. Schneizel had been particularly arrogant when selecting the location; it was to take place where Kururugi Suzaku's execution was scheduled to be held after his false conviction for murdering Clovis – where Zero had scored his first public victory against the Holy Britannian Empire.

She felt foolish to think that she had once said Schneizel would have made a great Emperor if the times were better. Time and time again over the past year he had proved that not only did he lack any sort of care for his people, he could be ruthless at times. He was subtle about it, to be sure, but it was obvious that he no longer conformed to the Schneizel she thought she knew – one with no ties to anything, even to his own life.

Ever since they had been children, Schneizel had always been Charles' favourite. They would talk for hours discussing strategy as they played chess in His Majesty's private rooms. The particulars of what they discussed stayed firmly between the two of them, although Cornelia – and Lelouch, she suspected – had a feeling that simple chess strategies were the least of what they discussed.

Nobody ever made any comment about Schneizel being Charles' favourite. Some may have thought it unfair for a ruler to be favouring any one of his heirs – particularly one which wasn't the first-born – but not under the banner of the Holy Britannian Empire. Domination of the week, prevalence of the strong, evolution through murder and conquest – these were the fundamental policies of Britannia, and indeed, of Charles Zi Britannia. He never openly stated it, but it was clear that any of his heirs was welcome to his favouritism, but they had to defeat Schneizel to receive it.

Although he never appeared to care for his father's respect or attention, Lelouch was the only one to ever come close to defeating Schneizel in a game of chess. He had never once managed to win, but he'd managed to achieve a stalemate many times. Schneizel simply couldn't lose; the way he made his moves made it seem as though he played in such a way that no matter how exposed or under-protected his King was, it was impossible to do anything more than stalemate him.

It was as if capturing even his King would not be enough to defeat Schneizel away from the chess board.

Regardless, simply defeating Schneizel at chess wasn't enough to constitute defeat in the eyes of their shared father. If they wished to fulfil that requirement, they would need to defeat him at an international level; they would need to defeat him in war. Charles had all but announced Schneizel as his successor when he was still in his early teens, yet the throne was still open to contention; the Emperor encouraged any attempt to take hostile action against his favourite son.

Clovis had taken to the unspoken challenge the fastest out of all of Charles' heirs. He would challenge Lelouch over and over again to games of chess, hoping to win his father's approval by showing him his ambition. He would always lose, however, and none of the other members of the Imperial Family would ever comment on his skill or lack thereof – something which was, to him, even worse than a negative assessment of his abilities.

Clovis' life had always been ruled by ambition, and it had been his downfall in the end. Schneizel had also dedicated his life to his ambition of becoming Emperor, but Clovis hadn't had that as his first priority. Clovis' ambition was for personal gain – riches, respect, position and power. His arrogance and self-interest had led him to order the massacre of the Shinjuku ghetto to protect himself. He had personally initiated the very same battle in which Lelouch had led his first successful assault on Britannia – culminating in him losing his own life to his younger half-brother.

Weeks before Lelouch had been banished from Britannia, Cornelia had noticed him acting far more distant than he usually would. His facial expressions seemed permanently set in a position indicating deep thought – a far more serious version than the one he would use when playing chess. It was an unnerving change and Cornelia had taken it upon herself to, with the help of Euphemia, figure out what was affecting him.

Neither of the two princesses ever found out what the issue was, but more than once they had noticed him returning from the direction of Charles' private rooms a few minutes before he and Schneizel would finish their nightly discussions. Cornelia suspected that Lelouch had been listening in on their meetings and perhaps overheard something he wasn't supposed to hear, but suggesting something like that without proof could get her into a lot of trouble. Regardless, she refused to choose her father over her little half-brother, and would never have reported him, even if she did have proof.

The remaining Black Knights came to a stop a minute's walk or so away from the venue, and a venue it was indeed. All traffic had been blocked off for two weeks prior in an effort to make preparations. Nobody really seemed to know what those preparations were until that night, however, as it was finally opened to the general public.

More than one member of their group made a fist with their hands and had to bite back a curse at what they saw. One side of the road – the side where the civilians had stood during Kururugi Suzaku's failed execution – had become the site for a long stretch of stadium-style seating. There were a number of entrances at the back of the new concrete structure, which seemed to be the only available entry-points – the rest being blocked off by gates, while the two road entrances were patrolled by knightmare frames.

Grimacing, they slowly made their way over to the entrance, making sure that whatever form of hat or cap they had chosen was successfully concealing their identity. Cornelia made to enter first, pushing gently through the small crowd before she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

"Where the hell do you think _you're_ going, filthy Eleven."

Within a second she had spun around and landed a hard slap on the man's cheek. Guilford followed her example immediately, punching him viciously in the stomach and pinning him up against the wall. Fortunately, nobody in the thin crowd had paid any attention to the sound of her slap, so the rest of the Black Knights formed a makeshift wall to shield them from sight. The man's eyes widened in fear as Cornelia approached him again.

"Well?"

The man gulped. "You…you have to buy a ticket."

Guilford punched the man again, but was stopped from hitting him a third time by Cornelia. "We won't be buying a _ticket_ to your little _show_," she replied forcefully, her teeth clenched as she spoke.

He whimpered slightly and coughed from Guilford's blow, before turning back to face her. "You won't be able to get in if you don't; there's a turnstile that you'll need a ticket to pass through that door. You can get a ticket from the booth to my left. Now get off me!" he finally demanded, pulling himself away from Guilford and stumbling back towards the gate.

Guilford allowed him to go; he didn't seem like he was going to cause any trouble over their appearance and he wasn't very useful to them anyway. Shrugging, he followed the group over to the booth where Cornelia was fuming over the listed ticket prices. Ōgi spoke up after a few minutes.

"I don't think I can do this."

All eyes focussed on him, silently asking what he meant.

"I…I don't think I can stand being here to see them make a mockery of Zero's death. Just this show was bad enough, but to force us to pay admission? I can't accept that."

A few nods were exchanged, everyone completely agreeing with what Ōgi was saying. Still, for the most part, they retained their resolve to continue. Tōdō opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by Villetta.

"If it's alright…I'd like to go with Ōgi. I don't think I can cope with watching this either, especially since I was involved here last time with Kururugi…"

Tōdō fell silent for a moment; he wanted everyone to attend and pay their final respects to Zero, but as a leader he also knew that some people deal with things in different ways, and that a situation which is not stressful for one person may impact on another severely. He sighed.

"Go on, then. We understand."

Villetta gave him a grateful smile, before turning to take Ōgi's hand. Both of them tried to give some sort of short inspirational line to help their comrades, but ultimately were forced to settle for saying that they would be watching on the television from home.

Kallen watched them leave in silence, biting her lip as she inwardly debated as to whether or not she should leave herself. There was a small feeling inside her which told her to stay, but it was being completely overwhelmed by the pain it brought her to see everything Lelouch had lived and died for, come crashing down.

She raised a hand to her eye, wiping away a stray tear which had fallen before she could do anything about stopping it. _'Forgive me, Zero.'_

"Tōdō," she began shakily, keeping her eyes focussed on the ground in front of her. "I don't think I can stay either…"

He nodded to her with a sad smile. He'd assumed that she wouldn't be able to attend the execution; Lelouch's death had taken a far greater toll on her than any of the others. A few days before he had realised that she might also have known about Suzaku, making the event even more painful to her than if it was just a reminder of Lelouch's failed plans.

He knew about what had transpired on the day of Lelouch's execution, although he was sure that Suzaku wasn't aware of his knowledge. The moment he had recognised Suzaku's movements, he had likewise realised Lelouch's plans for self-sacrifice.

It left a bitter taste in his mouth to know that the Black Knights had failed to keep the delicate peace he had so carefully instilled with his death, and ever more so that they'd allowed Schneizel to manoeuvre them into such a position where any progress on their part was detrimental to their cause. On top of that was the guilt he still felt from sending Tamaki to his grave, and the intense self-loathing he had subjected himself to for not being able to win the battle from his sacrifice, allowing it to be in vain. If it wasn't for Chiba, he would likely have succumbed to the temptation of seppuku over the past few weeks.

"Of course, Kallen," he replied softly, forcing the somewhat foreign tone out from between his lips. "If you hurry, you'll probably be able to catch up to Ōgi and Villetta."

She shook her head. "No, there's something I have to do first."

The remaining Black Knights seemed slightly hesitant about letting her go, but after seeing what Tamaki had done to Ōgi they figured that they wouldn't get in her way if it had anything to do with what he had found out.

She slowly turned to leave, but was stopped by Cornelia's hand on her shoulder.

"Stay safe, Kallen."

* * *

**10:00 PM**

**Execution Grounds**

Two hours later the execution still hadn't taken place, and the crowds were becoming increasingly agitated. Whispers began to break out in the otherwise solemn crowd, spurning hundreds of rumours which spread like wildfire. Some offered that Zero had never been caught at all, and that Britannia was simply bluffing, while others insisted that he had been executed elsewhere to prevent any rescue attempts, and his body would be brought before the public afterwards.

Perhaps the strongest rumour was that the Black Knights had somehow secured Zero's release, through either diplomacy or recovering him by force. The Black Knights themselves caught onto this fairly quickly – having anticipated such a rumour would develop – but couldn't seem to share in the excitement. They had spent hour after hour debating different plans to rescue their leader, but even with the diplomatic immunity practically granted to them by Schneizel, they hadn't been able to come up with a single idea which would work.

Despite the shared feeling of despair, every one of them held their heads up high with dignity. To the people, Zero was an icon for hope. The Black Knight's were Zero's army, but as far as the people's hope went, they were expendable. Zero's army was exactly that – the army belonging to Zero and nothing further. Even if Zero were to die, as long as another Zero took their place the hope could be revived. The Black Knights could never show weakness; they could never show that they saw Zero as mortal.

The Black Knights knew that another Zero wasn't just going to come out of nowhere. If there was someone else talented enough and passionate enough about their cause to become Zero, then he or she would have already joined their organisation. Any new 'Zero' they were likely to come across would almost certainly be someone catering to their own ego.

The final verdict had been that one of them would have to become the new Zero if the current one could not be rescued. Tōdō had been the first to volunteer, followed immediately by Ōgi and Darlton. Tōdō's application had been denied straight away, on the basis that the Black Knights needed 'Tōdō of Miracles' to be publically visible.

Ōgi's had been likewise rejected. Since Villetta gave birth to their child, he had never been quite as effective as he was during the initial rebellion. As much as they respected their comrade, giving him the responsibility of Zero's mask simply wasn't an option when he had neither the expertise nor the ability to devote himself to it completely.

It was decided that the mantle would fall to Claudio Darlton if their current Zero was to be executed – an event which seemed certain unless they were granted a miracle. His strategic ability had skyrocketed over the past year as part of the Order of the Black Knights' command group. It still wasn't to the level of Tōdō, Cornelia and Suzaku – let alone Lelouch – but he had proven himself a reliable and capable leader in a number of skirmishes which had been left under his control.

Regardless, a dummy Zero – for that's exactly what they were planning on creating – had no need for strategic ability; since Zero would be internal and everyone would be aware of their identity, all decisions could be discussed and decided upon as a group, rather than Zero holding all the power. It was an advantage in that they could be more certain of their plans, but a disadvantage in that both the previous and current Zeros were more able than them.

What a dummy Zero _did_ need was charisma and the ability to motivate troops. Darlton had that magnetism in spades. It was easy enough to elect someone to give their decisions as orders, but if that person couldn't inspire the confidence necessary to keep an army together, then their decisions would be useless.

In truth, they needed a strategist over and above what Darlton or any of the others were capable of if they wanted to have a good chance of winning the war. It was possible by themselves, but each and every one of them needed to step up from their original roles as predominantly advisors and group leaders, and become something stronger.

* * *

**10:00 PM**

**Execution Grounds**

Three floors below, at the entrance to the ad hoc grandstand, two people passed through the turnstiles. One was a young girl dressed in a black hooded sweater; the other was a young man wearing a blue baseball cap, as well as a brown jacket lying open to reveal a light blue sweater underneath. They began to make their way towards the far end of the triple-storey construct, as they both took in the festive nature the Britannian vendors were promoting.

"Don't you think this is all…a bit much?" the girl began slowly, her eyes fixed on a stall which was selling figurines of a shackled Zero.

Her partner smirked and let out a short laugh. "A bit much? It's just a bit of harmless fun, Shirley."

"Harmless fun?" she half-shouted, turning to him immediately. "This is an _execution_ and you're calling it _harmless fun_?"

He shrugged and walked over to the vendor selling the figurines, Shirley following him reluctantly. "I'll take one."

The Britannian salesman grinned greedily, showing off a missing tooth; evidently, he had found himself on the wrong side of some particularly dangerous 'Elevens' while trying to sell his goods. The man in the baseball cap stopped him a moment before he placed the figurine in the bag.

"Wait…would you like one, Shirley?"

The girl beside him growled. "Of course I don't want one! Why the hell are you even buying that, anyway?"

The man ignored her completely, taking his hand away from the bag to allow the vendor to place the figurine inside. After the transaction had been completed, the man thanked him and continued towards their original destination, followed by a clearly agitated Shirley.

Over the five minute walk she had managed to calm down completely, walking side-by-side with the man she had followed in as they ascended another staircase. He finally came to a stop outside one of the aisles leading from the corridor to the main seating area.

"These seats are directly in front of where Zero will be executed. The Order of the Black Knights are located in the standing space at the bottom of the tier. We will be seated in the front row, so the Black Knights will be less than a few feet away from us."

Shirley leant to her right as he spoke to look down the aisle, spotting the Black Knights congregated towards the front of the tier. She turned her gaze back to him and raised an eyebrow as he turned to a bin and began to fish around in his pockets.

She smiled slightly as she recognised the bag containing the chained-up Zero figurine he had purchased earlier, but her smile quickly morphed into an indignant glare as he disposed of the paper bag rather than the figurine like she had expected.

He turned to her as he replaced the figurine in his pocket and spoke, noticing the angry expression she had on her face. "Is something the matter?"

She sighed, her facial expressions softening under his gaze. "Do you really have to do this to them?"

It took a moment for him to answer, formulating the best way to convey his point as he stared off into the crowd. "Look at these people" he began, indicating not just the Black Knights but every member of the crowd. "Zero is already dead to them. Zero is their hope, without him they will crumble."

He paused and turned to face her directly. "How was it that the legend of Zero began?"

Shirley seemed confused for a few seconds. Her eyes became glazed as everything she knew about Zero replayed itself in her head.

"…I see."

The man nodded at her reply and turned back to face the crowd, gesturing with both hands to encompass the entire venue.

"Look at this; Schneizel is turning it into a show – a spectacle. He has no idea how perfectly he's playing into our hands…"

* * *

**10:15 PM**

**Execution Grounds**

A further fifteen minutes had passed without announcement from the Britannian troops who still patrolled the grounds below and the crowds had become slightly louder than they had been previously from the wait.

Cornelia passed the time in complete silence, as did most of the Black Knights – save for Tōdō and Chiba who had engaged in a depressingly nostalgic conversation over the past ten minutes. There seemed to be no sign that Zero would be brought out any time soon, so Cornelia turned her attention back to the crowd she had been studying for the majority of the two hours they had been standing there.

Most of the people in the section the Black Knights stood in were 'Elevens,' although there were more than a few Britannians mixed in among them. Britannian or not, there didn't seem to be a single person who was taking any sort of excitement or joy out of the occasion. She knew they existed; every merchant working in the venue was clearly against Zero and it was almost certain that if there were those dedicated enough to make figurines, there would be plenty who shared their sentiments but didn't have the skill or desire to work there. In all likelihood they sat elsewhere, avoiding the Black Knights like the plague.

She noted with pride that none of the 'Elevens' in the area acted remotely aggressively towards the Britannians seated alongside them. Racial hate crime from the 'Elevens' to the Britannians had decreased dramatically over the past three years, the 'Elevens' realising that they had a definite chance to achieve equality through the Black Knights, and hence not needing to vent their frustrations at their perceived oppressors.

Similar crimes from Britannians to 'Elevens' had decreased also, but not by nearly as much; There were still many who supported Charles' Darwinist ideologies – Odysseus having completely reinstated Charles' policies during his reign – and continued their mistreatment of 'Elevens' with even greater vigour thanks to their repeated victories over the Black Knights.

Conversely, there were also many Britannians who seemed visibly uncomfortable with the reinstatement of the previous system. They would regularly boycott facilities which only serviced Britannians, avoid applying for jobs which were available solely to Britannians and even purchase real estate within the Shinjuku ghetto. It wasn't necessarily that they were making a statement of support for the 'Elevens,' but more that they felt awkward intermingling with a society based off arrogance and inequality.

These types of people were instantly accepted by the 'Eleven' population, regardless of their personal history, be they lawyers, government officials or even those who served in the military during Japan's initial conquering. More than a few nobles had also been known to throw away their titles in disgust, having – like many other Britannians – experienced a society without the prejudice they had been previously used to, and realised that they preferred it.

Cornelia's positive assessment of the people in her area ground to a halt as her ears picked up the sound of a new voice.

"I wish they'd just bring out the entertainment, I'm getting bored."

Cornelia, along with almost everyone in the entire box, whipped her head around to see who could be making such insensitive comments at a time like that. The first thing she noticed about the young man in the front row was the blue baseball cap he wore covering his face. He could have been either Britannian or an 'Eleven,' considering that none of his face was visible, and that the only skin he had left exposed was on his pale white hands. She suspected that he was Britannian – or at least a foreigner – based off his choice in clothing and the style of his dark hair, sticking out from under his cap.

The girl sitting in the seat to Cornelia's right was obviously there with him. She wore a black sweater with a hood which the Second Princess knew was clearly to conceal her identity in a similar fashion to the man's baseball cap. The girl looked over at the man after he spoke, seeming more curious than anything, but didn't comment, returning her attention to the road below.

The rest of the crowd seemed livid, but held off from engaging in any sort of argument or physical quarrel with the man for the sake of maintaining an atmosphere fitting for Zero's farewell. Everyone averted their gazes almost at once to avoid meeting his, but allowed them to snap straight back towards him when he spoke again.

"I heard he's already been killed; nobody will get to see the performance if that's the case." His amused tone was accompanied by a short laugh, and more than half of the crowd looked ready to attack him. They might have followed through with it if he hadn't spoken again. "Call me if anything happens; I wouldn't want to miss the entertainment."

Everyone let out a breath they hadn't realised they had been holding as he stood and left the area with his hands in his pockets. More than a few people exchanged their heated feelings towards the 'bastard' who had previously been sitting with them, paying no attention to the fact that his companion was still in her seat.

Fifteen minutes had passed since he'd left, and the crowds had completely reverted back to their solemn demeanour. The delicate calm was immediately broken as the same man wearing he rust-coloured jacket walked back into the seating configuration, his arms full of packages. He flopped down in his seat when he reached it, causing a few of the more precariously perched items to fall to the ground. Shirley gave him a curious glance.

"What have you got there?"

"Refreshments," he replied simply. "This show is taking far too long to begin, and who could say no to a chocolate bar or an ice-cream anyway?"

Shirley rolled her eyes, still hidden by the veil of darkness gifted to her by the hood she was wearing. _'He's acting really strange.'_

The rest of the crowd and even some of the Black Knights were about to assault him, and finally snapped after his next action. Gathering the pile in his lap up into his arms, he calmly stood up and began to hand out various sweets and other confectionary items with a 'you don't have to thank me' or an 'it's quite alright' regardless of their responses.

In fact their responses were anything but how he seemed to be perceiving them. Almost every single thing he gave away was thrown back at him with a scream, often hitting him in the forehead and landing back in his pile to be given to someone else. He continued handing out sweets unperturbed by the crowd's hostility towards him.

Eventually he moved onto the Black Knights, who held onto the distasteful gifts for the sake of taking the moral high road, but still refused to respond to him – not that he minded, continuing to comment as if they were thanking him.

His performance was interrupted as he reached the last member of the Black Knights. Guilford was the first to lose his composure, lashing out with a vicious left hook which caught the young man in the jaw. Miraculously, his cap stayed firmly fixed to his head. He stumbled backwards from the shock as Guilford took a step towards him.

"How can you act like that when one of our comrades is about to die?" he shouted. "This is a joke to you! Do you have no respect?"

The man regained his composure and stood to his full height, raising a hand to his lip in order to wipe away some blood from the hit. When he spoke, the change in his behaviour took everyone completely off-guard.

"Kururugi Suzaku."

Most of the crowd seemed confused at the mention of the former Knight of Zero, while Tōdō's eyes widened in shock. _'He couldn't know, could he?'_

He spoke again without waiting for a reply, his voice far more serious than his previously carelessly antagonistic self.

"Kururugi Suzaku was in this position once, I believe."

Tōdō allowed his tension to fall away. _'He doesn't...'_

Guilford's scathing response was immediate. "But Zero doesn't have Zero to rescue him!"

"You're right, of course." He replied with a shrug, before turning to leave. "Enjoy the show."

Darlton placed a hand on Guilford's shoulder to calm him as the man slowly walked off, not being followed by the girl who was with him. After he had calmed down somewhat, he made his way down the line collecting the various sweets they had been given with the intent to dispose of them immediately.

Cornelia ignored Guilford for a moment as he stood patiently in front of her, waiting for the item she had been given. Instead, she looked at the stars for a moment, recalling the man's final words. There was something not quite right about what he had said – a hidden meaning of sorts that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

'_Enjoy the show.'_

Her eyes widened slightly as she realised what he had been hinting at. Smiling softly, she unwrapped the ice-cream she held in her hand and took a bite out of it, never once taking her eyes away from the stars in the sky.

"What are you doing, Hime-sama?" Guilford shouted immediately, completely shocked by her actions.

Cornelia turned her gaze away from the stars and looked him directly in the eyes. "I'm going to do exactly what he said," she responded with a smirk.

"I'm going to enjoy the show."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry this took so long; I spent basically the entire week feeling drained and exhausted, so I couldn't bring myself to keep writing. Still, this one is over six and a half thousand words, so hopefully that will make up for the delay.**

**I continued some of my Japanese studies throughout the week and when I began to write this chapter I felt woozy at the number of tiny English words we manage to cram into every sentence, when compared to Japanese sentence structure. I'm not sure why I just mentioned that, but I did anyway lol. *shrugs***

**I just thought I should clarify that Villetta wasn't asking Tōdō for permission to leave. She was prepared to stay if they needed her for emotional support but would rather have left, not wanting to make a decision the others might look down on her for.**

**Just to be clear, this chapter wasn't Ōgi-bashing. His quarrel with Tamaki was because he was really concerned for Kallen, and his lack of leadership skills...well...that's canon lol.**

* * *

**What I would like to hear about if you decide to review:**

**1. Character focus for the chapter: Cornelia! How am I doing with her character? Good? Bad? Completely and utterly mutilating it?**

**2. Useless bit of knowledge which is really bugging me for the chapter: Those scarf-ey things all the noble Britannians wear. What are they called? (Actually this isn't really useless; it could come in handy when I describe nobles later)**

**3. General thoughts!**

* * *

**I've promised a reviewer to update The Greatest Shinobi War next, so it'll be at least a few days before Phase 6 (sorry!). Still, my goal is to get it out by...hmmm...Friday, I'll say.**

**Cheers,**

**Lord Bear  
**


	6. Phase 6

_This chapter is dedicated to Inconstant Heart as a present for scoring high enough in her Year 12 to make it into her first University preference. Well done, ih!_

* * *

**Execution Grounds**

Tōdō studied Cornelia carefully as the stranger disappeared into the distance. Why had she accepted the ice-cream? Did she know something he didn't? It seemed likely; that smirk she had worn hadn't been one of false confidence. She was sure something was going to happen. But what would happen? How could she be assured it would be a good something, anyway?

Regardless, something had turned Cornelia into the picture of confidence. Over the previous twelve months she had allowed the cold and harsh persona she had once worn as a Britannian princess to slip away, gradually being replaced by a far more tolerant woman, yet not one less formidable on the battlefield.

She had never for a moment lost any of the command in her voice, nor had she lost any of the power her stance radiated, but she had developed something of a softer side. In battle or in meetings with either the lower levels of the Black Knights or foreign parties, she would always cling rigidly to her 'princess' personality. When amongst the Black Knights command team, however, she would drop her guard, allowing a far more relaxed 'Cornelia' to surface – the kind who would roll her eyes at Tamaki's idiocy and rest her feet on the coffee table.

As a Britannian Princess she could never 'lower herself' to those sorts of 'unseemly' acts, even when alone, but after turning her back on the remnants of the Imperial Family, she had decided that she quite liked the life of a 'commoner.' Tamaki's funeral had been a very personal affair for all of them, so Cornelia had dropped the mask of her former personality as she attended his funeral – it would have been disrespectful not to, for someone who had become a close friend to her.

A mask – that was exactly what it had become. What once was Cornelia Li Britannia had now become little more than a piece of thin plastic placed over her face as both an intimidation tool to use on her enemies and a motivational tool to use on her allies. When they had left the depot on the way back from the funeral, Tōdō could easily see the change from one Cornelia to the other; it wouldn't do for the public to see the Cornelia Li Britannia who was desolate over the inevitable loss of Zero.

Throughout the entire time they had been waiting in the stands, up until the stranger in the baseball cap had arrived, Cornelia had been almost perfectly silent. Her 'Li Britannia' mask was held in place with more force than any of them, sincerely attempting to put up a façade of power and ability to transcend any level of despair. Save for her slightly increased jumpiness and tendency to anger faster, it would have been impossible to tell she was wearing one at all, if Tōdō hadn't known to begin with.

But then that stranger had arrived, and Cornelia's mask began to break down. Everyone else's broke much faster, but the one Tōdō was interested in watching was Cornelia's. As loathe as he was to admit it, Cornelia was far better at reading people than he or any of the other Black Knights were. As a Britannian Princess she had become an expert at the art through years of negotiations and similar activities, just as every child of Charles Zi Britannia inevitably had. He had only been able to identify Suzaku through his movements – movements he himself had taught the boy. Cornelia hadn't recognised Suzaku because she had no knowledge of his technique; if Tōdō himself hadn't, both of them would still be on square one.

When the man had finally finished his little show and turned to leave, Tōdō had immediately turned his full attention towards Cornelia to gauge her reaction, save for a small percentage which he kept dedicated to watching him leave out of the corner of his eye. What he saw both was and wasn't what he was expecting. Cornelia had dropped her mask, exactly like he had expected her to, but what showed wasn't the furious expression he had assumed she would adopt. Instead her features remained somewhat relaxed as she stared at the sky deep in thought, before she finally straightened herself and smirked – confidence rolling off her in waves. She wasn't acting, either; just watching her take a bite of the ice-cream she had been given was proof of that.

He allowed his thought processes to dissolve for a moment as looked down at his own ice-cream.

From what little he had been able to gather about the stranger, Tōdō had no clue which side he was on. He certainly seemed like an arrogant, spiteful follower of Charles' and Schneizel's ideals, at least on the outside. On the other hand, everything he had done seemed fake – forced. There was no doubt it was all an act, but what was the purpose of the act? Was it an act to further demoralise them, carried out by one of Schneizel's pawns? Was it perhaps an act to weaken their support base by making a mockery of them?

'_Enjoy the show.'_

What had he meant? It seemed as though the last way he could have meant it was literally. There was something about that phrase that screamed 'hidden meaning,' but Tōdō didn't know what to make of it. Cornelia did, however, which prevented him from falling back on the assumption that it was meant as it was said – Enjoy watching your comrade die.

'_Enjoy the show.'_

His eyes widened as he caught on to what Cornelia had seen in the man's comment. It hadn't been an act to demoralise them. It hadn't been an act to divert public support away from them. It wasn't just an act at all.

It was a show.

Tōdō grinned honestly for the first time in weeks, as he unwrapped his own ice-cream and took a bite of it. Chiba and Guilford seemed utterly scandalised that not one, but two of their own had succumbed to the lure of forbidden fruit. Darlton spared him only a slight glance before returning his gaze towards the same stars Cornelia's had previously been focussed on. A moment later he too had developed the same gleam of recognition in his eyes, turning to Tōdō and nodding resolutely before following suit.

Ten minutes later, a Britannian horn sounded, signalling the arrival of Zero and the execution party.

All heads immediately turned to their left, where they could make out the escort moving towards them. Chiba gripped the rail hard enough for her to begin trembling. Tōdō placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, helping her to steady her wild heart rate.

"Believe in Zero."

Chiba turned to him, her face showing obvious signs of both frantic worry and confusion. "How can I believe in someone who's helpless? Zero can't even save himself, let alone us!"

Tōdō stared down the road at the approaching vehicle, never once looking at Chiba. He pointed towards it and spoke. "Don't believe in that man."

"But that's Zero!"

"Don't believe in that man," Tōdō repeated, a smile tugging at the edges of his lips. "Believe in Zero. Zero is no longer one man to us; Zero is hope.

"Believe in hope, and you will be believing in Zero."

* * *

"Behold. Zero, the lowlife who has caused the deaths of millions of Britannians and Numbers alike over the past three years, has finally been captured and will be executed today."

Kanon Maldini surveyed the crowd from his position at the front of the vehicle carrying Zero. He wasn't able to make out faces very well at that distance, but the general mood was easy to decipher. Aside from a small contingent of Britannians who hated Zero, sitting at the far left of the stands, it was obvious that everyone was feeling despair in one way or another – hopelessness as their chances for a better world died with Zero, grief for loved ones who had died fighting alongside Zero in order to achieve a goal which would now never be realised, or even simply mourning the man wearing the Zero costume, who was about to be put to death.

He stood formally, just as he had been ordered, and allowed the palms of his hands to rest lightly on the rail in front of him. There was only a single transport in the execution procession, carrying both himself and Zero. The vehicle took the shape of a pyramid, the length of each side of its square base being approximately equal to the width of six of the road's eight lanes.

Each side of the abnormally-shaped unit was decorated by a Britannian flag, the longest sections of its cross running up the planes and meeting at the pyramid's tip. Attached to the very top of the vehicle was a large metal spire, easily adding a further ten feet on top of the already existing fourty foot pyramid.

While the vehicle was without a doubt designed with deliberate extravagance, it was clear that it wasn't the main attraction of the show. Rather, the figure bound to a platform three quarters of the way up the spire was.

Anybody in the world who was old enough to talk could recognise Zero, either as their Knight of Justice, or as a pest to their own desires. Kanon didn't turn round to look at the man suspended above and behind him, but he knew that Zero would be completely still. For days he hadn't moved other than when ordered – not even a twitch. More than once Schneizel himself would be called in to inspect the man and make sure there was still a person under the mask, having made it perfectly clear that none of his subordinates were to attempt to discover Zero's identity.

The platform Kanon himself stood on wasn't so much an addition to the base design, but rather a square indent made halfway up the pyramid. He had somewhere around ten feet squared to move around, although he had been specifically ordered to avoid movement as much as possible in order to demonstrate Britannia's confidence and power. The front and sides of the indent had been decorated by an intricate set of golden handrails, the bars twisting in the centre to form the design of Britannia's coat of arms. In the floor at the front right-hand corner was a hatch leading down into the cockpit of the vehicle.

"This day marks the beginning of an era where Britannia can flourish, unhindered by the violent methods of Zero."

The procession had entered from the same side as Jeremiah Gottwald had when presenting Kururugi Suzaku, Kanon noted, as they turned the corner and began to slowly pass alongside the first section of the stands. The stands weren't the only new addition to the area, however; a good deal of the settlement had to be rebuilt in the aftermath of the Black Knights' first rebellion – their use of the interlocking plate system destroying most of it – and again following the impact of FLEIJA.

To Kanon's right stood the newly-constructed stands, while to his left ran the new 5th Circinate Line. Revised planning in the wake of restoration had led to the monorail system being raised, so the tracks were now at the same height as the road, and its carriages moved alongside the cars. An empty carriage was stationed further along the tracks; Schneizel had wanted to make sure the tracks couldn't be used in a rescue attempt if there was one – something he had said was highly unlikely considering that Zero had already been captured.

Four extremely large video screens were positioned high above the train tracks at regular intervals, facing the crowd and level with the highest row of seats. For the moment they showed live footage of the execution procession.

Despite Schneizel's belief that there wouldn't be a rescue attempt which could make it past the frames guarding either end of the road, he had still dedicated eight Vincent Wards as an escort for the vehicle carrying the prisoner, Zero, and the executioner, Kanon. Four surrounded the vehicle, one at each corner, while the others moved side-by-side in front of it.

"Zero is now proceeding towards the execution point, along with the Britannian officer who will be performing the execution, Kanon Maldini."

Kanon remained unfazed by the emphasis put on his name by the speaker. Schneizel had previously informed him that Milly Ashford would be reading the prepared script over the loudspeaker. The head anchor of the Area 11 Television Network had been a Zero supporter for more than a year, due to her close relationship with more than one of the Black Knights. Schneizel requested that she be the one to broadcast it in order to fuel feelings of betrayal amongst those who knew her within the Black Knights, specifically Kōzuki Kallen and Nunnally Vi Britannia. It was a plan he had proven himself to be excessively proud of.

Milly had eventually accepted the 'offer' as it was put, faced with far worse options if she refused. It had come down to blackmail in the end; Schneizel had told her that if she 'declined' his offer, the announcer would be a noble Milly had contact with during her previous engagement to Lloyd – one she knew to be extremely bigoted and against Zero.

Kanon knew it was only natural for her to attempt to salvage the situation by straining her words and putting a spiteful emphasis on his name, as well anyone else in Schneizel's forces, but he couldn't bring himself to be angry about it. He had enough trouble trying to survive as it was; caring about what people thought of him wasn't his top priority.

Ever since being subjected to refrain by Lelouch aboard the Damocles, his life had gone completely downhill. Two years earlier he had applied for knightmare training so that he could be part of Schneizel's personal guard both on and off the battlefield, but he had been forced to ashamedly withdraw from the program over the previous year as his motor skills had degraded. He could still fire a gun as well as always, though, so Schneizel had allowed him to keep the same position he had previously held.

He owed Schneizel everything and served him faithfully; even when he did disagree with the man's methods, his objections would never last until the next morning. Schneizel would source his refrain for him, and keep his addiction under wraps. If word got out about it he would be dishonourably discharged from the Britannian Military and jailed; even when he did finally serve his sentence, nobody would ever employ him. His life would be over; he had no family or friends outside the military he could rely on if that happened.

He couldn't just stop taking refrain either. Refrain was unlike any other drug which had ever been seen; failure to continue regular usage had a one hundred percent mortality rate. It was rumoured that there was one way to break the drug's hold, but the exact method wasn't readily available information; it was thought that Britannia forcibly prevented the information from leaking in order to preserve refrain's image as a drug that could not be defeated, scaring people away from it. He had asked Schneizel personally, but was met with the reply that there was no such cure available.

Kanon had no choice other than to accept that answer as truth; he deeply respected Schneizel and knew that the man wouldn't lie to him. Once a month he would hole himself up in his private quarters and inject. It would always be at night; night was when his head was clearest from the slight distortion which was constantly present from the moment he woke up every morning.

Shaking his head of those thoughts, Kanon turned his attention back to the road in front of him. Moments later a transmission came through on his earpiece.

He reached up and pressed the connect button. "This is Kanon Maldini."

"There's a vehicle trying…get through the blockade at the southern end."

Kanon quirked an eyebrow at the somewhat broken message; evidently the transmission had come from one of the knightmare pilots guarding the road in front of him. "Whose vehicle is it?"

"It's His Majesty–"

"–Let it through," Kanon interrupted, the distortion returning to his mind in full force at the most inappropriate time. _'What is His Highness Schneizel doing here in person? I thought he was still aboard the Damocles. Perhaps he intends to give a speech of his own?'_

"But–"

"–I said let it through," Kanon repeated, once again cutting the other man off.

There was silence for a moment, before the guard replied somewhat hesitantly. "O-Okay…but you're taking the blame for this."

Kanon hit the disconnect button on his headset with far more force than necessary, irritated by a combination of the guard's lack of respect for a superior officer, as well as his own pounding headache. He gripped his head as a particularly bad pulse hit him, clenching his eyes shut and leaning against the rail for support.

The crowd gasped and Kanon's head shot up, his eyes widening in shock as he focussed on the approaching vehicle.

'_Clovis' vehicle? But Zero is restrained behind me; who else would do something like this?'_ he asked himself, disgusted that he could fall for something which had already been used. _'But I could always use this to show the world that His Highness Schneizel won't be defeated.'_

Kanon raised his hand to the headset and hit the connect button once again, keeping his hand over it for future use. "I want four knightmares surrounding that vehicle."

Instantly, the four frames in front of the execution float moved to take up position at each corner of the approaching vehicle, successfully halting it twenty feet away. The vehicle carrying Zero rolled to a stop as the driver predicted his next order. Kanon remained silent for almost a minute, waiting for his opponent to make the first move.

Without warning, the top of Clovis' vehicle went up in flames just as dramatically as it had the first time, revealing the figure of Zero once again standing against an execution procession.

"I am Zero."

A strong sense of déjà-vu passed over the crowd at the familiar sight; even those who hadn't seen the footage had heard of Zero's first public appearance. More than a few murmurs broke out, wondering which of the two Zeros was the real one – the one Britannia had captured, or the one arriving on Clovis' vehicle.

All four knightmares surrounding Zero readied their weapons to fire, but were held off by a hand signal from Kanon. He hit a button on his headset and began to talk over the speaker system, placing a hand on his holster in readiness to gun down this new 'Zero' at the slightest sign of hostility.

"Who are you? You are not Zero."

The new Zero was silent for a moment, his arms folded and seemingly unworried by the amount of weaponry pointed in his direction. When he spoke, he made no attempt to prove his identity, instead responding with another question.

"Then who am I?"

"This is Zero, right here!" Kanon growled, indicating behind him and spinning around to make sure the prisoner was still there. "His Highness Schneizel personally confirmed his identity!"

"Naïve!" Zero boomed. "You cannot kill Zero simply by killing one man!"

Kanon had heard enough and whipped his gun out, pointing it and squeezing the trigger.

"DIE, ZERO!"

The Zero standing atop the replica of Clovis' vehicle made no attempt to move, accepting the bullet willingly. He stood still for a few moments, before clutching his stomach and collapsing to the roof of the car. The crowd watched in silence as their hero slid down the vehicle's bonnet and onto the ground, leaving a thick trail of blood covering the windscreen.

Kanon replaced his pistol slowly, vaguely recognising the same sense of hopelessness from earlier returning to the crowd in even greater force. He smiled slightly to himself; Schneizel would be pleased with his performance.

Another gasp came from the crowd, Kanon spinning around in time to see the image on the four screens dissolve into a very familiar symbol.

The silver sigil of the Order of the Black Knights.

Kanon cursed as the image switched to a video feed of Zero, the flag of the United States of Japan serving as his backdrop.

"You cannot kill Zero simply by killing one man!" he repeated, the built-in voice of Lelouch Vi Britannia commanding power and respect. "I represent the combined hope of the people – Japanese, Britannian and all others of the world. Britannia as it is now, is a system designed to crush the weak. I am a system designed to bring justice. That is why I will not fail!"

"You want to destroy Britannia, then?" Kanon spat, losing control of his already unstable emotions almost completely.

The Zero on the screen made no move to respond, taking everyone by surprise as the image dissolved back into the logo of the Black Knights, before returning to the live footage they were previously showing.

For a moment Kanon was unsure what to do; Zero had just disappeared without answering his question. He couldn't continue with the procession, whoever this new Zero was would be expecting that.

His thoughts were interrupted by a number of screams throughout the crowd as every light in the venue went out, including the video screens. A large spotlight was activated, pointing directly down at Kanon's position. Immediately after, a second spotlight was engaged, illuminating the empty train carriage. On top of it stood Zero, his arms crossed and seemingly unworried and unaffected by Kanon having already shot him.

'_He's gained control of the electrical systems? This isn't some desperate rescue attempt.'_

"No, I do not want to destroy the country of Britannia," Zero finally replied. "I aim to destroy Charles Zi Britannia!"

Kanon snorted as a mixture of excitement and confusion ran through the crowd at Zero's reappearance and declaration. "Emperor Charles Zi Britannia is dead. He was killed by Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia over a year ago."

Zero seemed unfazed. "Charles Zi Britannia may physically be dead, but his ideals live on in his sons Schneizel El Britannia and Odysseus U Britannia."

"So you plan on killing both of them then, do you?" Kanon accused heatedly, once again pulling out his pistol to point it at Zero.

"I aim to destroy Charles Zi Britannia's philosophies and policies with as little bloodshed as possible."

Kanon ground his teeth. _'I've got to get rid of him before he does something really dangerous.'_

The crowd was silent as they once again watched Zero clutch his chest, reeling from the three bullets Schneizel's subordinate had fired into his heart. Blood began to seep out from between his fingers, slowly dripping down off the edge of his glove and onto the roof of the train.

Kanon looked on with a satisfied smile as His Highness' enemy fell backwards and over the far side of the carriage, dropping in excess of a hundred feet towards the ground. Something inside of him told him that he shouldn't be doing what he was doing – that he should be disgusted with himself to doing Schneizel's dirty work – but he crushed that feeling as soon as it appeared. For a moment the haze in his head cleared, but returned in full force as he reinforced his resolve to serve Schneizel.

Clutching his head in pain, he went to grasp the rail in front of him to prevent himself from falling over. Stumbling slightly, he instead missed and landed on his elbow as both spotlights simultaneously went out, blanketing the venue in absolute darkness. Moments later, all four screens flickered to life once again, as the perfectly serious visage of Zero became the only thing visible to the crowd.

"The time where it was thought that Britannia could be changed from the inside has passed. Today's Britannia is rotten! The hope we gained from Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia's death has been wiped out – destroyed by the last remaining relics of Charles Zi Britannia. I will create a world where the strong do not oppress the weak, where nations will not be identified by a mere number, and where a Britannia uninfluenced by the destructive ideologies of Charles Zi Britannia can exist. This is my promise of justice to you!"

The pilot of one of the knightmare frames surrounding the execution vehicle smirked behind his Zero mask, reaching into his pocket to press a trigger.

Instantly, all of the lights came back on, momentarily blinding all but the four pilots surrounding Kanon's vehicle, who were prepared for it. The four positioned at the corners of Clovis' vehicle were immediately wiped out, not expecting their allies to turn on them.

"Back up!" Kanon screamed into his headset, hoping that the basic command would be enough for the pilots guarding either end of the road to come to his assistance.

'_They aren't going to make it,'_ he realised, seeing the frames begin to race towards him in the distance. The vehicle jerked slightly as all four knightmares attached themselves to the corners. _'What are they doing? Are they going to try and move the whole float out of here? That's insane, they'll never make it!'_

Inside one of the cockpits, Zero smirked as he entered the last of the security codes into his command screen.

Kanon gripped the rail to keep himself steady as the vehicle lurched, his grunt turning into a scream as the ground fell away beneath them and the vehicle began to plummet down through what looked to be an oversized elevator shaft. With impossibly perfect timing, the four frames still connected to the execution float simultaneously attached their landspinner systems to the vertical steel beams at each corner, slowing their decent to a constant pace.

Pulling himself up into a standing position, Kanon looked upwards to see the hole above them close over as six other knightmares reached it. His eyes widened as he realised what had happened. _'He used the interlocking plate system to escape! Again! He even slid the spare plate for maintenance work into place after it. Who are we dealing with?' _He ran to the edge and peered over it as he fumbled to pull the pistol out of his pocket, hearing the sound of metal hitting the ground below. _'That must have been the original plate.'_

Too preoccupied in attempting to come up with a method of escape, was he, that he failed to notice the hatch opening to his right. Twin eyes surrounded by red rings peered out at him from the cockpit, as the driver aimed a gun at his side and pulled the trigger. Kanon immediately collapsed as the tranquiliser went to work on his body, forcing him into unconsciousness. The driver apathetically dropped the gun and walked over to Kanon's body. After checking that he was unconscious, the driver took the pistol out from under him and raised it to his own head, pulling the trigger without a second thought.

Zero grinned as they reached the bottom of the shaft. His plan had worked! Not only that, either; Britannia had fallen for yet another scheme involving the interlocking plate system. Granted, there had been signs of large security upgrades in the past year, but they should really have put far more emphasis on preventing a decidedly 'Zero' strategy.

Grimacing slightly, he flipped three switches on the side of his control board, activating communication to the other frames. "Complete Order 6."

Having no desire to hear his soldiers following through with the order, he flipped the three switches back into the off position. Even without the direct link, he could still hear the first gunshot go off outside his frame, signalling the life leaving the first pair of red-ringed eyes.

He disembarked from his knightmare carefully, but still with some urgency; although the closest entrance to the underground network was miles away, they could still be caught if they moved too slowly.

Zero made his way up the steps towards his bound counterpart, pulling out a lock pick as he reached it and began to work. Less than a minute later he was done, and had to place a hand on the other Zero's chest to keep him from toppling down one of the vehicle's sides.

"Who–" the prisoner began, before accidentally knocking his mask off as he reached for his face.

Zero attempted to catch the mask, but couldn't manoeuvre himself into position while still holding onto the disorientated man. He watched apathetically, shrugging as the mask collided with the ground below and shattered. They could always make more.

"Can you move, Suzaku?" he asked, pulling a thick strip of material away from the former Knight of Zero's eyes.

Suzaku blinked rapidly, trying to let his eyes get used to the faint lighting under the settlement. "Yes. I was blindfolded under my mask, but I can see now."

Zero nodded and pointed towards a small vehicle facing away from them. "There's a car waiting for us. We can talk more when we are in the clear."

Accepting the offered hand, Suzaku allowed Zero to pull him to his feet and followed him towards the vehicle, pausing momentarily along the way to bind Kanon and place him on the back seat. He had no idea who it was that had saved him, but he had accomplished a feat that was thought impossible after Lelouch 'betrayed' the Black Knights.

Maybe – just maybe – with him, they could have hope again.

* * *

**Aerial Fortress Damocles**

Schneizel watched the broadcast from a comfortable seat aboard the Damocles.

"They had no time to react; the rescue attempt was too fast," his companion mused out loud, a grin on his face as he stirred a cup of tea. "It is assumed they escaped through the tunnel network underneath the settlement."

"Doesn't that bother you?" he asked curiously.

The man slowly turned to face him. "Why should it?"

Schneizel made no move to answer, so he continued. "One third of the game of Chess is about drawing your opponent out into the open; you know that. It is impossible to beat an opponent who makes himself invincible by hiding their pieces where you cannot attack them. This is even truer in real life, where it is possible to take pieces off the board – either temporarily or permanently."

He nodded in understanding. "Go on."

"What I have done is create a situation which results in a victory for me either way. If Zero was executed, it would crush the hopes of the people and remove the figurehead for the Order of the Black Knights. As Zero was rescued, it has given me a valuable chance to study his rescuer. Without offering Zero as bait, I would never have known that there was someone with enough skill to oppose me."

Schneizel raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You think he can oppose you?"

"Not directly, no," he explained, taking a sip of his tea before continuing. "But he has some talent. There is no need to return to the original conditions, however."

"What can you understand about this rescuer, then?"

He rested his cheek on his palm in thought for a moment. "He is obviously a Geass user. From what I can see, his power is likely something which makes him invulnerable or semi-invulnerable. It is also possible that he has a code, and is thus immortal. The only other possible scenario is that he deliberately sacrificed two of his men, although I consider this situation extremely unlikely."

Schneizel smirked and lifted his glass. His companion immediately placed his tea on the table in front of him and followed suit with another glass.

"All Hail Britannia!"

"All Hail Britannia!"

* * *

**A/N: Wow, this chapter was HARD to write. I don't mean just regular 'hard,' I mean 'HARD' hard. Oh well, I guess I'm glad it's finally up after all this time. I've had the basic idea down for ages, but actually planning the rescue was a chapter's worth of writing in itself!**

**One thing I absolutely _love_ to do in any fic I write, is to develop under-developed characters (as you saw with Tamaki). Kanon is one of the characters I intend to work with again in more than one chapter in the future, so don't expect this to be the last you see of him :P **

**Claudio Darlton is potentially another I might use as more than a filler character.**

* * *

**What I would like to hear about if you decide to review:**

**1. What did you think of my rescue plan? :D Was it intricate enough? Detailed enough? Canon-Zero worthy?**

**2. What were your thoughts on my background for Cornelia over the past year?**

**Theories:  
**

**3. Who is Zero?**

**4. How did Zero survive multiple bullet wounds?**

**5. Return of the cloaked-guy-who-hangs-around-Schneizel! Who is he?**

* * *

_**IMPORTANT!**_

**Please reserve any negative comments you may consider about Kanon being out of character for the meantime. Kanon is deliberately unstable at the moment, due to both refrain-usage and something which won't be revealed until much later. When it _is_ revealed, you will all understand why I've written him this way. ;D  
**

**Thanks for understanding! :)**

* * *

**A/N: I won't have Phase 7 out by Christmas, unfortunately. I'm usually very busy around Christmas, and I have to switch from Cable to ADSL2+ for the first time tomorrow, so I could potentially be stuck without internet for a while if I stuff up.**

**That being said, I'll do my best to get it out by the end of the year (wow, it's so soon! :O).**

**Sorry to readers of The Greatest Shinobi War; Code Geass: The Game of Kings is turning out to be a much better story, so I'm putting all of my effort into it at the moment. That and I'm just far more interested in this one. ;)**

**Speaking of other fics, I have an absolutely awesome idea for a Bleach fic, but I won't start that until I'm at least three quarters of the way through this one. If I don't promise myself that, I might find myself updating this less and less. And that would be sad.**

**I should also actually watch past episode 120 of the Bleach anime or read past it in the manga before I write a fanfic, too. lol**

**Sorry about all these author notes, I got a bit carried away. Still, the actual chapter is 5,000+ words without these.**

**So anyway, Phase 7 should hopefully be up by New Years.**

**Merry Christmas, everyone! :D**

**Cheers,**

**Lord Bear  
**


	7. Phase 7

_IMPORTANT:_

_Make sure to read the author notes at the end of this chapter after reading it. Do not close the window until you have._

* * *

**7:45 PM**

Kallen waited until she had rounded the corner and was out of sight of the Black Knights, before turning and heading in a different direction.

She took note of the atmosphere, but otherwise paid little attention to her surroundings as she walked, dragging her feet along the ground slightly. Almost everyone she passed was dressed entirely in black, mourning the imminent death of Zero, just as she and the rest of the Order of the Black Knights were.

Not everyone was disappointed by the impending execution, however; even as she approached the Shinjuku ghetto, a few Britannians were parading around in flamboyant and colourful outfits, deliberately goading the mourners in the streets. Unfortunately for them, they had succeeded to a far greater degree than they had anticipated.

Kallen paused in front of an alley, looking down its length to see a group of Japanese, and even other Britannians, physically reminding one of the downside of their arrogance. While she didn't agree that they should resort to violence in response to such petty provocations, she couldn't bring herself to be concerned about the victim's plight. Lelouch wouldn't interfere, and Suzaku would intervene immediately, but what would Kōzuki Kallen do?

_**"Nothing in particular."**_

'Nothing in particular.' That was exactly what Lelouch had said when she had asked him what he wanted to do about Britannia. She now knew his true intentions, of course, but Lelouch hadn't been talking about the country of Britannia when he spoke – he had been talking about the people of the world.

Changes in policy and in procedure could be implemented with relative ease. Lelouch could almost certainly have simply announced himself publically as alive and requested an audience with the entire Imperial family without ever forming the Order of the Black Knights. He would easily have used his Geass to enslave them and become Emperor with relatively little hassle in comparison to the plan he had eventually carried out. Charles was an exception, of course, but there were other ways he could have dealt with his father.

Regardless, he had still created the Order of the Black Knights, as people were not so easily changed. By giving the people hope – by giving them a chance to openly support the changes he intended, rather than forcing what he perceived to be best for them – he had successfully encouraged an iron will within almost all people of the world to change their situation.

Those had been the values he had given to 'Zero,' at any rate. 99th Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire, Lelouch Vi Britannia had not been so subtle. He had changed everything about Britannia as Emperor; every scrap of policy and procedure serving Charles Zi Britannia's regime had been ruthlessly expurgated, regardless of anyone else's opinions. He was seen as a tyrant, but that made no difference to him. As Lelouch Vi Britannia he had recreated the world, and through Suzaku, 'Zero' and his own death, he had made his world one which the people chose.

Regardless, Schneizel had won in the end, and the people were once again divided between two worlds. The majority were in support of Zero's world, but even with their numbers they were unable to stand up to the dictatorship of Odysseus U Britannia.

The world had been given a taste of freedom from oppression, and of a society where the strong do not oppress the weak. Attitudes could no longer be blamed on lack of awareness; anyone who still supported the current Britannian regime was their enemy.

The man in the alley was her enemy. She would do nothing, in particular.

A fifteen minute walk later, Kallen found herself squatting under a bridge and attempting to remove a manhole cover. There were ways to get underneath the interlocking plate system scattered throughout the settlement, but very few of them had large enough entrances to fit more than a single person through. Those that did were heavily guarded by the Britannian military.

The locations of others were kept heavily classified. Britannia had installed them in order to provide escape routes for their troops, as well as move reinforcements into position during critical situations. The locations of these entrances were given only to the highest ranking and most trusted officers, so it was natural that – with the combined information of Cornelia, Darlton and Guilford – the Black Knights had almost perfect knowledge of them.

The entrance Kallen was accessing was disguised as a sewer entrance from the outside, and even for the first few metres of the ladder which was visible through the darkness. The cover was deliberately made heavier than usual; if someone genuinely wanted to access the sewage network, it would encourage them to use the genuine entrance a few feet to the left.

Despite the extra weight, it only took Kallen a few seconds to pull it off. She was much stronger than the average Britannian officer, and it wouldn't make a very useful escape route if it took five minutes to open. Replacing the cover after her, she made her way down the long ladder, pulling out her purse and clicking on a flashlight as she reached the bottom.

It had seemed strange to Kallen that the purse had a flashlight built-in alongside the knife. She had purchased it from a less-than-reputable dealer at a market in her resistance cell days, and had been intrigued when it opened up to reveal two square pouches and a small bottle with a complicated name printed on the label.

She had been extremely confused when Tamaki started laughing hysterically upon seeing her with it. It had taken Ōgi five minutes to get a word in and explain to her that the purse she had bought was almost certainly designed for a female assassin, and that the pouches were likely intended to hold mints and contraceptive pills.

At that moment, Kōzuki Kallen turned redder than she had in her entire life.

The bottle had turned out to contain an incredibly fast-acting poison, capable of killing a fully-grown man in under a minute. The resistance cell had never needed to use it, but the Black Knights had, so it was half-full at present. Neither of the pouches had ever been filled, although she used to regularly catch Naoto sneaking worried peeks at their contents, much to her chagrin.

The lighting conditions became better as she neared her destination; evidently the construction work done on the plate system above her was of a far lower quality than in other areas of the settlement. Regardless, she left her flashlight on and wedged it into a piece of scaffolding, illuminating her figure in the almost suffocating darkness of the underground.

Kallen knew this place well. She was standing only a few hundred feet from the base of Babel tower, in the centre of what had once been Section Five of the Shinjuku Redevelopment Zone. It was complete now, of course, and had been cleared of all remains of the construction process. Only five long slabs of wood stacked in a pile remained, having been left out for one reason or another.

The same stack of wood Lelouch had been sitting on when she stumbled upon him struggling with refrain.

In a sick twist of fate, that single stack had been the sole survivor of a vicious clean up which had left the area almost spotless at the end of the construction period. She had returned only three times since that incident – once on the anniversary of Lelouch's death, once on the anniversary of his birth, and that night. Suzaku's death signalled the end of hope for the Black Knights – the death of everything Lelouch had given his life to achieve. It was as much Lelouch's death as it was Suzaku's

She had reason to revisit the place far more frequently, but forced herself not to; she had loved Lelouch, but wouldn't dedicate eternity to thinking about him. Not a day went past when her thoughts didn't turn to him for at least a few minutes and her eyes shed a tear or two, but she refused to let it control her life.

No, she allowed something far worse to control her life.

**_"You know about it, don't you Kallen? It can bring you back to your dear past."_**

This place had bittersweet memories for Kallen. It had been the first time she had ever seen Lelouch despair; her infallible leader had been prepared to submit himself to the control of the world's most dangerous drug in order to relieve his pain. It had also been the one time which stood out among all others where she had been useful to not only the Order of the Black Knights, but Lelouch personally; if she hadn't stopped him when she had, everything they had worked for would have come crashing down, and Lelouch's life would have been over.

He would never have been able to escape the clutches of refrain if he had begun to use it. With anything less than his full potential, he would have been doomed to a life of dependency – unable to break its control over him.

Until he stopped injecting or was executed for being Zero, he would be nothing more than a dead man walking.

Kallen let a tear roll down her cheek as she sat on the pile – exactly where Lelouch once had – and reached down to finger the smashed refrain vial which had been avoided by the construction workers. The actual syringe was still there, covered in dust and exactly where she had thrown it. She lifted it into her hands carefully, making sure not to knock the large piece of glass still attached to its side.

Closing her eyes tightly, she clenched her teeth and crushed the piece of glass in her palm.

Even though she knew she had no choice, she felt that she deserved the pain for her weakness. Every drop of blood that fell to the ground was another drop of blood she could have spared if only she was strong enough.

If only she was strong enough to stop _him_.

He had destroyed her. The things he did to her behind those walls – the things he subjected her to – should never have to be faced by anyone. Throughout the disgusting pleasure he had taken out of her anguish, he had left his mark on her – a permanent mark that had completely ruined her life.

That man was dead now; she had killed him herself.

His death could never stop the pain his actions continued to inflict on her, nor could it take away her shame, but it still provided her with a sense of satisfaction. People like him shouldn't exist. If she had the chance to go back and kill him again, she wouldn't spare him. His death would be far more brutal than before.

If the circumstances had been different, even Luciano Bradley might have been impressed by her sadistic desires.

How ironic.

Kallen's hand shook violently as she fumbled with the clasp on her messenger bag, ignoring the blood dripping onto the fabric. Finally she managed to undo it and reach in, pulling out a small black box.

She stifled a gasp as she withdrew her greatest shame – the secret she had successfully kept hidden from all but one person for almost two years.

Refrain.

**_"If they pile up, you might collapse under them some day."_**

**_"I'm here. I'll always be with you, Kallen."_**

**_"The verdict is out. It's twenty years."_**

**_ "It's the after-effects of the drug. She can barely talk. It'll take time for her to recover."_**

**_"Please wait! Mother, I'll change the world before you're released."_**

**_ "Don't mess around! What does one loss mean? Just think of another plan and make up for your loss!"_**

'…_Lelouch…Mother…Tamaki…'_

A tear rolled down her cheek as she inserted a vial and held the syringe to her vein.

'_I wish there was another way, but there isn't. I'll never escape.'_

'_This will be the last time.'_

With those thoughts in mind, Kallen injected, the chemicals in the drug moving to seize control of her brain in what would be the final chance they would ever have.

* * *

**2019 a.t.b.**

**The Headquarters of The Order of the Black Knights**

It had been three months since the world celebrated the death of 99th Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire, Lelouch Vi Britannia.

Peace had reigned almost perfectly for those three months. Less than a handful of criminal offences had been committed across Japan, and the culprits of any which had were brought to justice in record speed, despite the country having an extremely green police force when the Order of the Black Knights weren't taken into consideration.

The Black Knights themselves were seen by all as the heroes of the world, and had as such been living in relative luxury since their rescue. The entirety of a large building in the centre of the now renamed 'Tokyo' had been purchased for them immediately following their victory, funded primarily by wealthy Britannians who either genuinely believed in their cause, or misguidedly thought they could gain political influence through funding the Black Knights.

Their control over a vast amount of the world was unquestionable, but could not be seen as a rule in the traditional sense. Ōgi Kaname had been installed as Prime Minister of Japan three weeks earlier, and talks were currently being held about who should be selected as Emperor or Empress of Britannia. The majority of the world had been expecting Nunnally Vi Britannia to take up the throne, but in truth it was undecided. Lloyd's name had been thrown around for a while before Cécile, Rakshata and himself had disappeared; the poor scientist was incredibly excited when he had heard about it, but his eyes had watered like a lost child's when he was told it was a joke.

One of the primary functions of the Black Knights at this point in time was to head up the United Federation of Nations, while the other was to serve as a police force in Japan. 'Area Eleven' had been the focus of almost all of the world's resistance to the Holy Britannian Empire, and as such the people were naturally somewhat more militant; without the Britannian police force in place, there was a gaping hole in that department.

Almost the entire public had been in support of the Black Knights' control; nobody save for the supporters of Charles' regime displayed any desire for them to step down, so it could not be said that the dictator Lelouch Vi Britannia had been replaced with an organisation just as power-hungry as he was. Their influence as enforcers of the law only extended into Japan and Britannia, however; no other areas were subject to rebellions on the same level, and as such were able to survive with far less experienced police forces.

The fact that the Black Knights were enjoying a level of comfort they had never been given the opportunity to feel before did not mean they were becoming complacent or arrogant, however. Still, it would be inaccurate to say that their efficiency and effectiveness were equal to what they had been in the past, and certainly not at the standard Lelouch had set during his tenure as Zero; victory had taken away a lot of the desperation which had fuelled them to work over and above what they should have been able to in the past.

Interestingly enough, Tamaki was one of the few who didn't let up on their intensity in the aftermath of what had appeared to be their absolute victory; if anything, his dedication only increased. It was such an incredible turnaround from his previously boisterous attitude that many people were unsure how to deal with him, and so they simply allowed him to continue as he was. If it wasn't for his tendency to behave in a manner more commonly associated with Tamaki Shinichirō when off-duty, he would make an ideal Order of the Black Knights poster boy.

Very few had any idea what had caused the change, but it was a welcome one – at least in terms of Order activities. Those who were close to him were concerned about his mental health, but whenever anyone approached him about it he would immediately find some work to do and set about completing it, regardless of the time or situation. For this reason it was common to see him busying himself in some area of the complex at any time from early morning to late night, rather than relaxing in the small lounge which had been built for the core members of the Order on the same floor as the majority of their private quarters.

If anyone had been paying attention, they would have noticed Kallen disappearing every now and again too. She didn't do it as frequently as Tamaki, but while Tamaki could be found wherever work needed to be done, Kallen would not have been so easily located, even if an attempt had been made to find her. It wasn't as though the Black Knights didn't care about her, but she needed the time alone without fear of being discovered. Whether it was because Tamaki did it more often, because his reasons were well known, or because he was less careful about it, Kallen knew not to comment; if she was being watched more closely, she would have to either admit to refrain usage or allow herself to die.

She was sitting in the Black Knights' main command room discussing recent information on a force being gathered in Europe – a thought which alone made her stomach tighten painfully – when the withdrawal symptoms hit. It had been twenty-two days since her last injection.

Kallen's grip tightened on the arm of her chair, unnoticed by the other occupants of the room.

"From what we have gathered, the amassed army is large enough to directly challenge our forces in Britannia, even with the vast resources gained from our victory over the Empire," Tōdō stated seriously, leaning his palms on the table as he stood hunched over a pile of papers. He furrowed his brow and continued.

"I discussed this with Claudio in the elevator on the way to this meeting, and we both agree that their objective is likely to be to lead an assault on Britannia. If these figures are accurate then they will be relying on the resources gained from Britannia in order to wage war on our primary forces in Japan. Zero has also agreed that this is the most likely scenario."

A few barely audible mutters were heard around the room, closed to all save for the core members of the Black Knights.

"Tōdō, where was this army spotted? Do we know where they originated?" Cornelia cut in after a few seconds, the sound around the room dying out as she spoke.

Tōdō shuffled the papers on his desk, quickly scanning over a few of them until he found the one he was after. "They were allegedly spotted three days ago in the North West of Austria, close to the German border. Our information states that their camp was temporary, and they were transporting up to three days' worth of supplies more than they would need to travel from Austria to Britannia using Knightmare frames. Based on this and the terrain patterns in the region, it is likely that they formed in either Romania or Northern Bulgaria."

Cornelia was completely silent, her eyes wide in shock at the implications of Tōdō's information. Kaguya and a few others shared her horrified expressions, while the rest of the room's occupants were still trying to connect the pieces in their head. Villetta was the first to respond.

"Romania? Bulgaria? Why there? Wouldn't a resistance be based in Germany or Poland where the resources are richer?"

Kallen understood just as well as anyone what it meant for the Black Knights if Romania had been the origin. Already she could feel the effects of the addiction getting stronger, feeding off her anxiety and despair. She didn't have long now; once the withdrawal symptoms began, she only had a few hours to satisfy them before her body would shut down.

She bit her lip and tried to keep the tears out of her eyes. Her hands gripped the arms of her chair harder, until they were trembling and a few of her fingernails had pierced the fabric in panic. _'No…not now…please not now! If they win…I'll…I'll never escape this!'_

Kallen flinched as she felt two hands wrap around her arm and something lean against her shoulder. She hadn't even realised she'd closed her eyes until she was brought out of her thoughts by…

"…Kaguya?"

The sixteen year old rolled her head to the side so the back of it was resting on Kallen's shoulder, looking up to meet her eyes. "Shhh, Kallen," she began, placing her left index finger in front of her lips and reaching up with her right to play with Kallen's hair. "We're the Order of the Black Knights. We won't lose."

Kallen was grateful for the comforting gesture, the ghost of a smile passing over her features as she noticed that the girl had dragged her seat a good two or three feet to reach her. Kaguya had always been good at reading people.

"Thank you, Kaguya," Kallen replied, forcing her body to relax slightly, refusing to allow her posture to betray her thoughts.

_'Thank you for the support, but soon I won't be any use to the Black Knights. If we lose this, I'll lose myself forever.'_

Kaguya smiled and nodded, sitting up to continue listening to Tōdō's response. She had removed her head from Kallen's shoulder, but allowed her left hand down to slide down Kallen's arm and entwine their fingers.

"Due to information Zero transmitted last night from Britannia, it appears that Romania is the most obvious location to stage an invasion from. Many of you were away from base until only a few hours ago, which is why you are not aware of this yet," Tōdō began after sifting through a few reports for a minute or two in silence and placing a single page in the centre of the table.

"This report details the registration of a new organisation in Romania three years ago. This information has only been accessible to us recently through the United Federation of Nations, although I am unsure what made Zero interested in acquiring it to begin with. Regardless, the results are unmistakable. The top half of this page is the original Romanian document, while the bottom is a translated version. This is the organisation's name."

Everyone who had missed the meeting which had been held the previous night leaned forward, craning their necks to read the text. Villetta gasped, her answer laid out in black and white.

"T-Toromo Institute?"

Tōdō nodded gravely. "Yes, the same name as the organisation led by Schneizel in Cambodia which produced the Aerial Fortress Damocles as well as the FLEIJA missiles. Zero believes that this is a perfect mirror of the Cambodian branch, which we had previously believed to be the only Toromo facility in existence."

"Then that means–"

"–Yes," Tōdō replied, cutting her off. "This means that the enemy we are facing is almost certainly Schneizel El Britannia."

"Then there's no chance Schneizel is still allied with us, or even neutral?" Villetta asked, despite already knowing what the answer would be.

"No. If he was, he would have returned to us immediately, or at least made a statement. The only other option which does not involve betrayal is that he has been taken hostage, a situation which is unlikely given his current lack of political standing in the world. He may have been on our side during the war, but it is too soon for us to risk everything for another Britannian Prince; our enemies would know this," he responded immediately; evidently he had spent a long time stewing over this dilemma. "No, Zero concludes that Schneizel is intending to launch a campaign to conquer the world. I also believe this is the case."

The tension in the room was crushing, and Kallen had to bite her lip to keep from crying out. Her heart was thumping almost audibly in her chest, and her head was aching from a pulsing headache; she needed to leave the meeting, and soon.

All eyes in the room turned to her as she stood, Tōdō pausing mid-sentence to ask the silent question.

"I...I…I'm sorry!"

Kaguya gave her a sad smile as she pulled her arm away and backed away towards the door. The expression on the girl's face made Kallen panic as she closed the door behind her and tried to make her way through the building without acting conspicuously.

_'Does she know? Could she possibly know? When did? Would she?'_

Kallen caught herself as she almost tripped on a step, not wanting to risk being near enough to someone in an elevator that they could notice her behaviour._ 'Don't be ridiculous. Kaguya is just concerned because you seemed really upset during the meeting. If she knew she'd confront you and try to help, that's the kind of person she is, you know that.'_

She burst out of the stairwell on the seventh floor and ran down the corridor, thankful that there was nobody to see her sprinting out of the emergency exit at almost one in the morning. Reaching her room at the far end of the corridor, she pulled her keys out of her pocket and fumbled with the locking mechanism, cursing under her breath as she missed the keyhole for the third time in a row.

Finally she got the door open and darted inside, slamming it behind her. Hers was the only room in the entire building which only had a single spare key kept by either Zero or one of the other core members of the Black Knights. She had claimed it was just because she felt uncomfortable knowing that it was possible for someone to enter her room at night, an excuse they had bought for the most part.

Zero and Tōdō didn't relent as easily, though. They insisted repeatedly that it was extremely unsafe for there to be only a single key to her room, providing arguments centred around hypothetical situations in which she was either held hostage or was ill and unreachable without a spare key.

Kallen had shivered when Tōdō made that final argument; it hit home extremely hard for her, knowing that was exactly what would happen if she wasn't careful with refrain. Eventually they had come to a compromise, and Kallen had allowed one spare key to be given to Tamaki, while the third key was destroyed in front of her.

It was a calculated risk every time she had to inject, but it was one she had to take, even knowing that Tamaki could enter at any point and catch her either mid injection or under refrain's effects. The headquarters of the Order of the Black Knights closed their external doors at ten o'clock every night, and while all of the high ranking members of the organisation who lived in the building had access codes to leave at any time, a log of who used the exits at what time was sent to Zero's computer every morning. If Zero ever read the logs and noticed her name disappearing for most of the night every three weeks, she would have a lot of explaining to do.

There wasn't time for concern tonight, however. Kallen estimated that she had a little less than four hours until the withdrawal killed her, so there was no chance she would survive the night if she attempted to put it off until the next day.

After checking to make sure the door was locked, she got down on her hands and knees in front of her dresser and pulled out the bottom drawer. Tossing it to one side, she reached into the frame, pulling out a small wooden box covered with a plastic bag.

Kallen shivered as she untied the bag and removed the lid of the box, revealing a syringe and twelve slots for vials – four of which were already empty. She took the fifth vial and moved towards her bed, attaching the syringe as she sat down.

Her right hand moved towards her forehead, gently removing her old resistance headband and wrapping it around her bicep as a tourniquet. Bile rose in her throat as she realised just how fluent she was becoming at the sequence, a disgusting skill gained only through experience.

She clenched her teeth in anger and pulled even tighter on the headband, relishing the pain from her blood being cut off. At that moment, something happened that she would forever remember as one of the worst betrayals of everything she believed in.

The headband snapped.

Tears streamed down her face as she clutched the last remaining memento of her long since deceased older brother. Naoto had given her his headband only a few days before his death when she had lost her own. To break it was bad enough, but to do so while using it to inject a substance as vile as refrain…

…Kallen had never felt more ashamed of herself in her life.

Just as Kallen was about to inject, a crash distracted her.

Eyes snapping open as wide as possible, she turned to the source of the sound, her body shaking uncontrollably. Standing in her doorway and looking just as shocked as herself was Tamaki, a few nails rolling out of the box he had dropped at his feet.

"Kallen..." he began carefully. "What's wro–"

"–Stay away from me!" Kallen screamed hysterically, regaining motor control well enough to push herself backwards off the bed and lean against the wall, hugging her knees to her head. "Just…Stay away!"

Tamaki was still for a moment, trying to figure out what to do; he'd rarely had to deal with a girl who'd been crying before. His reputation as something of a clown had never seemed to put him at the top of anyone's 'who to go to when you're depressed' list. Of all the girls he could have expected to find in that situation, however, he never would have thought Kallen would be one of them.

Slowly, he closed the door behind him and locked it from the inside. Kallen still hadn't looked up from her position leaning against the wall, and hadn't slowed her tears at all, so he moved to sit next to her. He pulled up abruptly as he almost stood on a glass vial, lying carelessly on the floor at the foot of her bed.

"…Refrain," he breathed, his voice no more than a whisper. "Kallen…how could you…?"

He clenched his fist hard enough that it shook as he waited for an answer. Kallen made no response.

"Kallen, how could you? Zero always tells us that the Order of the Black Knights are symbols of hope! That's what we stand for, Damnit! How could you betray us like this, Kallen?"

Kallen's sobs only got louder as he shouted at her, a thin stream of blood running down her legs from where her fingernails had pierced the skin she had her hand wrapped around. Her body was visibly convulsing now, and Tamaki was immediately hit with a horrible guilt for snapping at her so easily.

He carefully made his way over and leant against the wall, sliding his back down until he was sitting on her right. She was clearly in too much pain to notice him, he realised; she would have made an attempt to get away from him if she had. Hesitantly, he placed his left arm around her, trying not to startle her too much.

Her reaction was instantaneous, immediately scrambling to put some distance between them. When their eyes met, he was shocked to see the sheer intensity of the haunted look they contained. He remained firm as Kallen scrambled to get away; he wouldn't let her down now.

"Kallen…how long have you been taking refrain?"

His question stopped Kallen in her tracks. He made no attempt to sugar-coat it, and for that Kallen was grateful, even if it was at a subconscious level. Nobody had ever spoken of her addiction out loud, for the simple reason that nobody had ever known about it; hearing it from someone else was completely different to admitting it to herself.

"I…I don't know exactly," she managed to get out between sobs. "It was…I…Britannia captured me."

Tamaki grimaced and tightened his grip on her shoulder, allowing her to rest her head on his chest as he sifted through scores of equally repulsive theories. He remained silent, giving her a moment to calm down before she continued. When she did, it was to give one name.

"Luciano Bradley."

His body stiffened in anger as he heard those two words. There was no doubt in his mind what had happened now. Still…

"What did he do to you, Kallen?" he asked, anger in his voice but carefully enough to make sure none of it was directed at her.

Kallen was silent for almost a minute. "Kururugi Suzaku."

Tamaki's eyes narrowed in confusion, before their intensity flared once more. "Him? Both of them?"

Kallen took a deep breath before she continued, wiping the tears from her eyes. "When I was captured by Britannia…When I…Suzaku wanted to know…He wanted to know who Zero was…"

Tamaki clenched his fist, trying to stop himself from making any sort of aggressive motion that might startle her. He knew how prisons extracted information from their female inmates.

"…He…he was going to use ref…refrain on me…to make me tell him who Zero was…" she continued, pausing slightly to compose herself. "…he didn't do it…he destroyed the vial…"

Her companion rubbed her shoulder supportively, allowing her to continue at her own pace.

"…I thought…I thought that would be the end of it…But then he…then Bradley came, after Suzaku left…he said he didn't care what happened to me…that my body was worthless to them…he…he used refrain on me…"

Tamaki was both relieved and angry. Up until a few moments before he had been almost certain that Luciano Bradley had raped Kallen, but the truth of the matter wasn't any kinder; he knew perfectly well how refrain toyed with its victims before it killed them.

"What happened then?"

"I didn't tell him that Lelouch was…was Zero. None of the days I had…seen him unmasked were amongst my happiest memories," Kallen replied, her sobs dying out as she managed to relax somewhat. "He used it…used refrain seven times on me that night…but he didn't get what he wanted."

Tamaki hesitated; his next question was extremely sensitive, and could do a lot more harm than good if he wasn't careful. "Did he…did he do anything else? To you, I mean…"

Kallen looked up to meet his eyes, startled, and for a moment Tamaki thought his fears had been realised.

"No…he didn't do that to me, if that's what you meant," she responded. Her voice was much calmer, despite the horrible question; evidently the knowledge that she hadn't been subjected to such tortures was the silver lining on her cloud.

"Are…are you going to take it away?" she asked timidly after a few minutes of silence, before spinning around and gripping his collar frantically with both hands. "Please don't take it away! Don't let anyone know! If you tell anyone, they'll take it away! I'll die!"

Tamaki grasped both of her hands and held her still; even if she was the Black Knights' ace pilot, her movements were too desperate to overpower him.

"I won't."

Kallen's limbs fell limp in resignation, before she finally managed to process what he had said. "You…you won't?"

He smiled. "No, I won't. But in return for that, you have to do something for me."

"What?" she asked immediately, biting her lip in apprehension.

"You have to beat it," he replied. "Kōzuki Kallen wouldn't let herself be beaten like this."

Kallen glared at him. "What are you talking about? Refrain can't be beaten! I'm dying Tamaki, and you know it!"

Tamaki smirked as Kallen pulled her arm backwards, making no attempt to move as the admittedly weak slap connected with his cheek. "The only way to break free of refrain is to create a positive memory stronger than any you have ever experienced in your life."

Kallen was perfectly still, her eyes wide in shock. "But…but that's impossible! How can anyone possibly be happier than ever before when they're addicted to refrain? Why doesn't everyone know this, anyway?"

"It's extremely hard, but not impossible. That's why not many people have ever survived," he replied. "Almost nobody knows because Britannia wants to maintain the illusion that refrain is undefeatable, to scare people away from it. Refrain dealers know, but it's something they only ever tell their clients after the first injection – once they're hooked."

"How do you know this?" Kallen asked; if she didn't know, there wasn't any reason for Tamaki to know through the Black Knights.

He sighed, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the wall. "I had a friend who died from refrain. That's all I'll say."

Kallen remained silent, so he moved away from the wall and faced her. He reached behind himself, picking up the syringe and pulling a lanyard out of his pocket.

"Hold still, Kallen."

She didn't make a sound as he gently wrapped the lanyard around her bicep and pulled it taut, blocking the blood flow to her arm. A tear rolled down her cheek as he found her vein and placed the syringe above it, the final words she spoke before succumbing to the drug containing more gratitude than any she had ever spoken in her life.

"Thank you, Tamaki."

* * *

**Section Five of the Shinjuku Redevelopment Zone**

When Kallen regained consciousness, she found herself lying face-down on the cold, dusty ground a few feet away from where she had injected. Taking a quick stock of any injuries she might have sustained while under refrain's influence, she was only able to find a few tender places which were likely to become bruises, as well as two or three small cuts; evidently she had fallen onto the shards of Lelouch's shattered refrain vial at one point or another.

The abuse her body had taken during this dose was significantly lighter in comparison to the last time she had used refrain – three days after the Order of the Black Knights total defeat, and Tamaki's death. From the night Tamaki had caught her up until his death he had stayed with her every time she took the drug, making sure she didn't injure herself or fall into a critical state; it was only natural that once she no longer had his support to rely on, her condition after regaining consciousness was worse than even the first few times she used it.

It had come as no surprise when that particular memory had first featured as one of her common refrain memories. Most users had five or six memories from which one would feature randomly on each use; Kallen herself had six. Tamaki giving him his support, rescuing Suzaku with Zero, the battle at Narita; every single one of her refrain memories had one thing in common – hope. When Tamaki had helped her that night, she had felt hope for the first time in months; it was unquestionable that it would become one of her most treasured memories, despite its morbid context.

Before that point she had been drowning in despair. Knowing what she now knew about the only way to break refrain could have destroyed her completely, if she had been aware of it three months earlier. The elation she would otherwise have felt when Zero finally defeated Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia was completely shattered by her understanding of Lelouch having planned everything from start to finish; if what had seemed to be her final chance to beat the drug had failed her, she might have given up hope completely.

Still, if given the choice to have understood his actions or not, Kallen would have chosen to understand them; if she chose not to, she would almost certainly have broken refrain's hold on her, but it would also be an insult to Lelouch's memory.

She would never feel guilt over it, but unknowingly deserving that sort of crushing guilt would be a filthy stain on her person she would never be aware of, let alone be able to remove.

An hour later Kallen dragged her body over to a piece of scaffolding and carefully pulled herself up into a standing position. Most people took four hours or more to regain enough motor control to make even slight movements, but Kallen was an irregular; while refrain may have damaged her reaction times and coordination beyond piloting the Guren, it couldn't stop her from keeping herself in nearly perfect physical condition.

It was nearing eleven o'clock by the time Kallen had finally made her way back to the Order of the Black Knights' current headquarters. The elevator doors opened to a small room with a single locked door on the other side when it stopped on the level which the Black Knights had purchased. It was fortunate for them that more than a few floors of both this building and the opposite one had similar configurations; they were likely to have been previously owned either by investors, or by some of the wealthier Britannians who had distanced themselves from aristocratic society under the reign of Odysseus U Britannia.

Kallen paused to relax her body, and make sure that all of her grazes and cuts were carefully concealed by her dress; she didn't want Ōgi or Villetta to question her about any obviously fresh injuries. She removed her key from a pocket and fumbled with the lock for a few moments, before silently closing the door and making her way into the kitchen area; coffee had always helped her to ward off the after-effects of refrain.

"Kallen!" Villetta exclaimed the moment she walked into the room, leaping out of her chair and rushing over to her. She pulled up short, however, noticing that Kallen was the only one to enter the room. "What happened? Where's everyone else?"

"I didn't go either," Kallen responded immediately, picking up on the fear in the older woman's voice. "I wa…I wasn't strong enough."

Ōgi walked into the room and leant against the wall as she spoke, regarding her curiously at the slight stutter. "Too much for you as well, Kallen?"

Kallen nodded, wiping a tear from her eye as she tried desperately to control her emotions after refrain had skewed them. A moment later her muscles tensed, registering the unexpected embrace the larger man had pulled her into. While it was somewhat comforting, she couldn't risk him picking up on anything unusual about her behaviour from the close proximity; she'd seem him register her stutter only seconds ago. Gently, she eased her way out of his embrace.

"He's dead, isn't he? That's why nobody is back yet, right?" she asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"I don't know," Villetta replied, surprising the red-haired teen. "They've delayed his execution for more than two hours already. We had to turn the television off about fifteen minutes ago; the way Britannia was turning it into a show…it was disgusting."

Ōgi nodded despondently, while Villetta shooed Kallen out of the kitchen with the promise of a jug of coffee if she went and took a shower – her maternal instincts developing much earlier than would be necessary for her own child.

She returned a few minutes later wearing a green tank top and a pair of red shorts, a white bathrobe obscuring them from view. Her hair was still wet and had begun to dampen the top of her robe. Villetta handed her a steaming mug and a double shot of vodka as she re-entered the kitchen.

"You'll need it tonight."

Kallen thanked her and took a seat at the table, placing the shot glass to one side; she had more than enough drugs in her system for the moment.

Ōgi sighed. "I wish there was something we could do for Zero. Without him, we'll never get another chance to fight Schneizel evenly."

A shiver ran through Kallen's body at the sound of Schneizel's name, almost causing her to drop the mug. She caught herself at the last moment and kept it balanced, trying to hide her panic as she looked up to see if her companions had noticed. Thankfully neither seemed to be any the wiser, relaxing her enough to continue sipping her coffee in silence.

"Things have become even worse lately," Villetta commented, taking a seat across from her husband. "Odysseus is letting this world self-destruct."

"Mmm," Ōgi agreed, swallowing a mouthful of coffee. "But it's not Odysseus making the decisions; Schneizel is pulling his strings."

"I know, but that doesn't make things any better," she responded, her words relaxing the group into a comfortable silence for a few moments.

"I wish Lelouch was here…" Kallen mumbled to herself, her eyes unfocussed as he absently stirred a block of sugar around in her drink.

The tension in the room was palpable at her words, both Ōgi and Villetta hearing them clearly. Although everyone would have agreed that Lelouch had made things better for the world in his legislation than Odysseus had, it was a major social faux pas to ever voice those thoughts out loud.

The death of Emperor Lelouch Vi Britannia had brought more hope to the world than anything Zero had ever done previously. It was the remnants of that hope which stopped the people of the world from bowing their heads to Odysseus' Britannia even after every defeat the Black Knights had suffered at his hands. To admit that Lelouch's death was not their victory was the same as allowing that hope to crumble.

"How could you say that, Kallen?" Ōgi asked quietly, but with a biting undertone. "How could you say that, after everything he did to us?"

Kallen flinched. Ōgi was extremely passionate when it came to Lelouch, often coming off far more aggressive than he intended to be when speaking about him. Everyone knew that he felt personally responsible for being fooled by the deceased Emperor, having given the order for the resistance cell to follow his command. Nobody was willing to mention his change in behaviour, though; it was a very sensitive topic for him, and as soon as the conversation turned away from Lelouch he would be back to the Ōgi they all knew.

"He deceived us!"

Kallen's grip on her mug began to falter.

"He lied to us!"

She bit her lip as her body began to shake, placing her mug back onto the table so she wouldn't drop it.

"If it wasn't for Lelouch Vi Britannia," he spat, "we would never have had to deal with any of this! Everything we did was for nothing! What more are we now than a resistance cell? We're right back where we started, and all we've got to show for it are enough blood on our hands to fill an ocean, and the deaths of Tamaki, Inoue and Yo–"

"–ENOUGH!" Kallen shouted, jumping up and slamming her palms down on the table.

Ōgi and Villetta were visibly shocked, the latter recovering in time to stutter a response. "Ka-Kallen?"

"How dare you talk about Lelouch like that? You know nothing about him! You know nothing about what he's done!"

"I know exactly what he's done!" Ōgi snapped back. "How can you defend that monster?"

Kallen shrunk back in her chair, the fire leaving her eyes in the face of her lifelong friend shouting at her. Her voice was quiet, and quivered slightly as she spoke. "No…"

Ōgi hadn't noticed her fear. "That man toyed with you, Kallen! He used you!"

"…Shut up…"

"He made you his pawn!"

Kallen's eyes snapped open, burning with greater intensity than either had seen in her for over a year. "SHUT UP!"

Ignoring the shocked expressions on their faces, she shoved her chair out of the way and darted out the door, allowing her coffee mug to shatter as she knocked it off the table. Tears streaming freely down her cheeks, she sprinted down the corridor towards the bathroom, throwing the door open and locking it behind her.

Kallen slowly made her way over to the bathtub on the far side of the room, trying to catch her breath as she opened the large window above it, the cool evening air circulating within the room and replacing the steam from her earlier shower.

Carefully, she climbed onto the windowsill, allowing her feet to dangle off the side of the building. It was a position she had found herself in many times since they begun to live there, a calming sensation overtaking her as she watched the city move around below her. Although she was more than a few stories up, the position wasn't nearly as unsafe as it looked; even if she did somehow miss the balcony at her feet, there was another – much larger – one only two storeys below which looked sturdy enough to catch her, so long as she was sturdy enough herself to survive the fall.

Leaning back to reach into the room, she retrieved her bag from where she had left it for her shower. She filtered through the contents for a moment, pulling out her purse and throwing the bag back into the room.

'_Still half-full'_ she noted absently as she turned the small bottle of poison over in her hands._ 'It would be so easy…'_

Her mind made up, she drew back and launched the bottle across the street, smiling grimly as she heard the comforting sound of the bottle shattering. Poison was a cowardly way to die.

Taking in one last breath of the outside air, she pulled herself back through the window and darted towards the medicine cabinet above the sink. Within seconds she was sifting through it haphazardly, forcing its contents to the floor. She winced when several glass bottles smashed on the floor; if Ōgi and Villetta hadn't been worried before they would be now.

With shaking hands, she reached towards the back of the empty cupboard and removed the piece of wood separating it from the wall cavity. When she drew her arm out of the hole, her fingers were firmly clutched around a three-inch knife.

With tears blocking most of her vision, Kallen stumbled towards the bath, taking comfort in the familiar feel of the leather grip.

'_I'm sorry…'_

Her bathrobe caught on a hook as she walked, tearing it off her and causing her to trip onto her chest. With a sob she pulled herself to her feet again and stood in front of the bath, grasping her top in front of her stomach and slashing the fabric off just below her breast.

'_I'm sorry, Naoto. I'm sorry Lelouch. I couldn't create the world you both gave your lives for.'_

Kallen was only vaguely aware of the voices screaming from outside the room and the thumping of Ōgi's foot on the bathroom door as she raised the knife in front of her.

'_Forgive me…'_

With those final thoughts, she clenched her eyes shut, driving the blade towards her chest.

* * *

Both husband and wife watched with shocked expressions as Kallen's mug shattered on the floor. For more than a minute the two sat in complete silence, before the sound of Villetta's palm on Ōgi's cheek sounded clearly throughout the room.

"What the hell was that for?"

Ōgi made no move to reply, shame overcoming him as he regained his composure. "I…I didn't mean…"

Villetta slapped him again. "Damnit, Ōgi! You're letting this obsession with Lelouch get to you! We haven't mentioned it to you before because it was obviously a touchy subject, but this time you went too far! You've got to stop it before something serious happens!"

He nodded, knowing perfectly well just how true her words were.

The sound of glass shattering brought them out of their momentary silence, exchanging alarmed expressions before sprinting towards the source of the sound as fast as their legs would carry them.

"Kallen? Open up! It's me, Villetta!"

Ōgi wasted no time trying to coax her out, instead rearing back to attempt to kick the door in. Three attempts later he succeeded, and they both forced their way through the broken door. The sight behind it chilled them to the bone.

Kallen laid strewn out on the tiles, a dagger buried up to the hilt in her chest. A rich pool of blood surrounded her body, growing steadily larger every second.

"Check her pulse!" Ōgi screamed hoarsely, spotting the purse sitting on the edge of the bath. When he opened it, his heart almost stopped.

"There's no pulse!" Villetta replied, searching desperately to find something she knew in her heart wasn't there.

"It's gone…" Ōgi stammered, the purse falling out of his hands "The poison…What have I done?"

Villetta finally stepped away from the body and moved to comfort her husband, resigned to the horrible, yet undeniable fact that Kōzuki Kallen was dead.

"Naoto…I couldn't protect her…I've failed you worse than ever…I'll make it right, Naoto…I'll make it–"

"–Ōgi, no!" Villetta cried, forcing all her strength into keeping him away from the knife he was desperately reaching for. "You've still got a child! You've still got the rebellion! You've still got me! Can you really give all these up just because of Kallen?"

"Just because of Kallen?" He screamed, his face almost turning red with a mix of anger, frustration and shame. "Just because of Kallen? How can you say tha–"

He was cut short by a punch to the face from Villetta. "Listen to yourself, Ōgi! Would Naoto have wanted you to be acting like this? Would _Kallen_ have wanted you to be acting like this?"

The blood drained away from his face, red being replaced by pale white.

"Go and get the phone; we have to call the others."

Only when Ōgi had left the room, did Villetta finally allow herself to break down into tears.

* * *

_**IMPORTANT!**_

**Don't hate me yet! Remember: this story is still Lelouch/Kallen! *Wink***

**Again, this chapter wasn't Ōgi bashing. The psychological damage he suffered from believing he had given the order for his resistance cell to follow someone who he believed to have betrayed them eats him up inside. He didn't cause Kallen's suicide either; she had already planned for that refrain usage to be 'the last time.'**

**Tamaki isn't acting the fool as much as he was in canon due to the events of Phase 1.**

**For those people who are concerned about Kallen's behaviour being OOC: refrain is messing with her system in an absolutely horrible manner. The effects when she's not taking it or dealing with the withdrawal symptoms still impact on her, but the majority of it is centred on her immediately before and after taking it. That's why in this chapter she isn't as 'strong' as she usually would be.  
**

* * *

**What I would like to hear about if you decide to review:**

**1. What do you think of my portrayal of refrain? For the amount of hype it got in canon, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it should have been. Frankly, even seeing a vial of it after writing this would scare me! (Putting aside the fact that it doesn't actually exist)  
**

**2. Do you hate me with a burning passion (YOSH!) for what I did to Kallen?**

**3. On a scale of one to ten, how worried were you that she had been raped? (Sorry! I wouldn't do that to her!)  
**

**Theories:  
**

**4. This fic is still Lelouch/Kallen. How can that possibly work?  
**

**5. Does this have anything to do with the events of Phases 5 & 6?  
**

* * *

**A/N: Longest. Chapter. Ever. (For me, anyway.)**

**Sorry this took so long to get out; between my last update and now I've had to deal with setting up ADSL2+, Christmas Eve, Christmas, a party on NYE, getting over the party on NYD, family friends coming the other day, et cetera, et cetera. The length (Over Nine Thousand! - Sorry!) should more than make up for it, though! :D**

**Phase 8 will be considerably shorter than usual (and much shorter than this one), however. The last scene of this could really have been the first scene of chapter 8 (length-wise), but it just worked so much better to put it in this one. I'm expecting it to be 3,000 or so words in length, but you never know – I might just find another scene to make it up to a round 5,000!**

**I'll get to work on Phase 8 in the next couple of days. My goal is to have it out by...hmmm...January 14th.**

**_EDIT (08/01/09): After further consideration, Phase 8 is likely going to be one of the hardest Phases I will have to write for The Game of Kings. In light of this, I'm giving myself an extra week to have it out (Jan 21 instead of Jan 14th). On the plus side, it's going to be much longer than I initially anticipated._  
**

**Cheers,**

**Lord Bear  
**


	8. Phase 8

**The Headquarters of The Order of the Black Knights**

Kallen tried to scream, but no sound escaped. Her mouth was completely covered by a black leather glove, giving her barely enough room to breathe through her nose and rubbing against her skin uncomfortably. She had been captured.

She wasn't sure why that scared her so much; only a few seconds earlier she was attempting to commit suicide. The idea that she could be mere moments from death should be comforting, given that her attempt had somehow failed. It couldn't have been the fear that she would be raped or tortured, although the second one was likely if information was the goal; there were far easier targets around for those sorts of crimes than Kōzuki Kallen.

Perhaps she didn't want to die, after all.

The balcony they stood on shook slightly from the added weight, but didn't creak or appear to be breaking. Their accommodations since Schneizel's victory were substandard at best. It was all they could do house everyone in the two floors they currently occupied; they couldn't afford more than an old building with bolt-on balconies.

Her captor pushed her up against the outer wall of the building, to the left of the bathroom window. She complied willingly, not attempting to sneak a look at the person's face as he or she also flattened themselves against the wall next to her. She was far too weak to resist, anyway; the old Kallen would have knocked them unconscious in seconds, but with the after-effects of refrain still affecting her, even Lelouch could probably subdue her with ease.

Combined with the adrenaline running through her body, that thought almost made her laugh.

"Check her pulse!"

Kallen struggled against the arms restraining her to no avail. _'…Ōgi?'_

"There's no pulse!"

'…_Villetta?'_ Kallen narrowed her eyes. _'What pulse? What's happening in there?'_

Her confusion grew rapidly with every word the two obviously-distraught adults spoke, an acute sense of dread developing rapidly within her. She could do little more than listen as they fought over whatever it was that had happened, flinching at the sound of Villetta's fist connecting with Ōgi's nose. Kallen grit her teeth; if it wasn't for the refrain, she would have been able to escape and help them.

It wasn't until Villetta had stopped crying and the bathroom door was heard closing that the hold around her torso and arms slackened slightly, her captor wincing as if they had suffered some sort of injury but had been forcing themselves to remain silent.

Kallen took the opportunity to pull away and climb back in though the window, her captor scrambling in after her. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw, and it was only the gloved hand once again covering her mouth which served to muffle what would have otherwise been an ear-piercing scream.

Her body lay lifeless in the centre of the room.

Breaking free once again, she sprinted over and threw herself to her knees next to it. Blood coated her palms as she searched for a pulse, just as Villetta had done only a few minutes ago. She didn't find one.

Kallen hunched over her corpse, drawing in long, ragged breaths. Tears were falling onto her pale, cold face before she even realised they were pooling in her eyes. The entire situation was so surreal – so impossible – that the only conclusion she could come to was that something had gone horribly wrong.

'_Am I…'_ Kallen reached for the knife, but pulled her hand back at the last moment. _'Am I dead after all?'_

That realisation tore at her worse than she'd ever thought it would. She had promised to liberate Japan – and indeed, the rest of the world – but in the end she had been too weak. She had made such grand promises, but she'd been unable to fulfil any of them.

'At least I kept my promise not to break Tamaki's headband' she told herself grimly, slowly removing the accessory and placing it in her pocket. Ōgi and Villetta might notice it missing, and they might not, but there was no way she could bring herself to leave without it.

If she had been thinking clearly, she might have realised that an identical headband rested on her own forehead.

"Come."

Kallen froze. Theory after theory had been created in her mind about what could possibly be happening to her, most of which centring around the likelihood that her captive was the shinigami or some other spirit, having come to collect her and take her to the afterlife. All of those theories were for naught now; she knew that voice.

'_Lelouch…'_

She slowly turned around, trembling at the thought of finding the purple eyes of Lelouch staring back at her.

The mask of Zero greeted her.

Kallen took a step backwards in fear; this wasn't the Zero she knew. As far as she knew, every Zero mask made by the Order of the Black Knights had a purple oval in the centre; this one was silver.

"Who…Who are you?"

'Zero' walked back to the window. "Follow me."

Kallen had no choice but to follow as he climbed back out onto the balcony and made his way around to the other side of the building. She needed answers, and she couldn't deal with Ōgi and Villetta now; they were likely to have a heart attack if they saw her alive.

He stopped at the entrance to the fire escape, turning around to make sure she was following and beckoning her to walk up the staircase in front of him. She reluctantly complied, all the while trying to think of who this 'Zero' was. A voice-masker was almost certainly concealing the person's voice; still, if there wasn't one attached, it could only be Lelouch.

"We're here."

They had walked out onto the roof and were standing in the centre. There wasn't much on top of the building other than air vents and the like, but Kallen had been up there more than a few times to watch the stars. She had almost used refrain there a week earlier during a brief lapse in judgement, but had realised just in time that she was risking death if she accidentally wandered off the unprotected side of the building during her hallucination.

"You aren't Zero. Who–" she began, but was cut off by 'Zero' raising a hand to indicate that she was to be silent.

"That is correct. I am not Zero," he stated evenly. "I am one of Zero's operatives. He noticed your absence from the execution and ordered me to leave towards the end and deliver a message to you."

Kallen narrowed her eyebrows in suspicion. Suzaku – or whoever they had been following – had been in Britannian custody since being captured by Schneizel. It was impossible that he could have realised she wasn't there and found a way to get a message to her; he would almost certainly have been tied to an execution vehicle. She asked the logical question.

"How can I trust you?"

The man who had admitted he wasn't Zero was silent for a moment. "I am Q-4. I can't tell you any more until after you have heard the message."

Kallen nodded. "Fine. What is it?"

"Zero wishes to meet with you," he began, prompting a raised eyebrow from Kallen. Even if Zero miraculously escaped his execution, he would be able to contact her easily at any time. "Nine days from now at two hours before midnight, he will be waiting at the Shinjuku Wrecking Yard. You are to come alone."

Kallen flinched slightly at the location; it was the same place Lelouch had asked her and Ōgi to build a replica of Clovis' vehicle. She shook her head; she had bigger things to worry about. "Will you be there?"

"No. Zero will also be alone."

Kallen was extremely wary by now, but the man could have easily killed her so it was unlikely to be an assassination scheme. There was also the fact that Schneizel himself had released her repeatedly to take into consideration.

"I accept," she stated firmly, before beginning to shake slightly as the adrenaline wore off. "But tell me…what happened back there?"

He didn't respond for almost a minute, seemingly dealing with some inner struggle. "Maybe I should show you."

He placed his palm over the silver oval on his mask, allowing the mechanism to retract. He removed it slowly, almost nervously, causing Kallen to gasp as she set eyes upon a face she thought she would never see again.

"Sh-Shirley?"

"It's been a while, Kallen," she replied wistfully. When she smiled, it never quite reached her eyes.

"But...But you…" Kallen trailed off as she threw her arms around the girl. Everything told her that Shirley couldn't possibly be standing in front of her, but she didn't care; it didn't matter how – she had her friend back.

"K-Kallen," she stammered, a few tears falling from her eyes as if it pained her to say her old friend's name.

No further words were exchanged, and within a few seconds both of them were crying. Kallen would never admit it under pain of death when she told her story, but for the moment she was content to let her spiralling emotions take control of her. Refrain, attempted suicide and kneeling over her dead body had been a lot to deal with, but seeing Shirley? That had well and truly broken the camel's back.

Shirley was in much the same state. Her emotions had been becoming steadily more erratic from the moment she saw Kallen, although not for the same reasons. It was all she could do to force her way through delivering the message without breaking down.

_'__Now that Kallen is…Now…Lelouch…'_

Not only that, but Shirley could never have guessed that Kallen would resort to suicide. She might have attempted it herself by the time she got to where Kallen was, but her old friend was much stronger than her in that respect. There had to be something else; the Kallen she knew would never succumb to that desire.

Indeed, it had been nothing short of a miracle that Shirley had arrived when she did. Zero hadn't known anything about any sort of suicide attempt; his order was only to deliver the message. It had been by sheer chance that Shirley – having used the fire escape to avoid the Black Knights – made it to the bathroom window mere moments before the knife reached Kallen's chest.

Abruptly, she fell to her knees and let out a low groan, causing Kallen to look up in alarm.

"You're hurt." It wasn't a question.

"I'll be alright. I'm used to this," she assured her, standing up. "It doesn't hurt as much as it should; it only feels like a kick in the chest."

Kallen raised an eyebrow; she hadn't seen her get hurt. Shirley walked to the edge of the building and looked out at the Settlement and the ghetto, Kallen moving to stand on her right.

"Shirley, how did I survive? How did you survive? Why is my body downstairs?" Kallen asked slowly, the perfectly serious expression she held being reflected in her tone. "How are any of these things possible?"

Shirley sighed, gazing up at the waning moon. "I guess you deserve to know."

* * *

**2017 a.t.b**

**Ashford Academy**

"Shirley?"

The girl in question felt her body go rigid monetarily, silently thankful that she was facing the opposite direction to her roommate. Her first instinct was to hide the piece of paper she had been writing on – years spent on Milly Ashford's student council honing her schoolgirl reflexes – but her hands quickly changed their course. Although it held extremely sensitive information, it wouldn't be nearly as disastrous for her if it was discovered when compared with the loaded firearm on the desk next to her.

She couldn't afford to think like that anymore. Zero was Lelouch, and Lelouch was Zero; Shirley Fenette had stumbled upon what was likely the most dangerous information in the entire world. Despite the degree to which her mind itched to analyse – as fantasise would be an inappropriate expression, regardless of what regular schoolgirl conventions may say to the contrary – how it would impact on her feelings towards Lelouch Lamperouge, the fact remained that she was likely the sole person alive who knew of Zero's identity without being allied with him.

The sound of bed sheets being moved around drew her out of her teary contemplation with barely enough time to hurriedly conceal the pistol underneath her uniform, thankful that regaining consciousness in the morning is often accompanied by a certain inattentiveness to details.

Details like a gun on a school campus.

"What are you doing up so early? Writing a letter?"

Shirley gulped, freezing momentarily. She hated to lie – especially to her friends – but the truth was too dangerous in this situation. Then again, wasn't it Lelouch's deceit that was hurting her so badly?

"Yeah, sort of."

Her friend replied immediately with as much excitement as one can express less than a minute after waking up, relieving Shirley of the tension grasping her from the possibility that she had seen the weapon. "Could it be a love letter? Writing to Lelouch?"

Shirley's body visibly stiffened at the blunt, yet oblivious reminder of her dilemma. "Maybe…"

Silence reigned for a few minutes as the orange-haired girl allowed her mind to wander and her friend began to create a mental checklist for the various comparatively inconsequential tasks she wanted to accomplish that day.

Eventually the young girl dragged herself out of bed and slowly made her way over to the shared wardrobe, pulling her nightgown over her head as she walked and discarding it in a basket. Her yawn as she shuffled through various outfits startled Shirley slightly, interrupting her thoughts.

"I have to go now," she began shakily as she moved towards the door, her voice devoid of the usual cheer it carried. "I might be gone for a while."

"Where are you going?"

She was silent for a moment, choosing her words carefully. "To visit someone precious to me."

Her friend gasped and turned towards her with almost visible hearts in her eyes, a shirt tangled around her neck and half of her bra clasp unconnected. "You're going to see Lelouch, aren't you?"

It was almost an accusation, and Shirley was beginning to feel distinctly uncomfortable with the mention of Lelouch.

"Maybe…" she finally replied, eyes unfocussed as they stared at the richly varnished timber in front of her. "Don't tell anyone where I've gone…"

"What do you mean? I don't even know where you're going."

Shirley mentally shook herself. "Oh…right. Of course you don't."

* * *

It was still somewhat dark outside as she left her dormitory – enough to clearly see where she was going, but an approximation of five or six a.m. could be easily reached from observing the lighting conditions alone.

Despite her strong desire to leave the campus as quickly as possible before anyone could question her about it, something brought her to a halt once she was halfway across the one of Ashford Academy's patches of lawn. The grass was still damp from the morning dew, although not so much as to suggest that rain might have fallen while she had been sleeping. The situation was such that if she had been thinking in her normal manner, she would likely be glad that she had neglected to change out of the Ashford uniform in her haste; the only other clean outfit in her wardrobe consisted of a pair of slightly-too-long pants, the hems of which would almost certainly have been soaked through and caused her considerable discomfort during her train ride.

She stood there for decidedly longer than she had wanted to be loitering around the grounds, her legs refusing to move until she had completed some insignificant action. Her eyes drifted blankly over the buildings as she slowly turned around, inevitably coming to rest on a building in the opposite direction to the one she was heading in. Not a single clear thought passed through her mind as she stared; it was as if her eyes were drinking in the details, but her brain was refusing to process it past that stage. It took almost two minutes for her to finally draw the connection between the building and its function – the Student Council building.

Where Lelouch was.

A shiver ran down her spine the second she reached that conclusion, reflexively averting her gaze to the main building. Taking a deep breath and shaking her head in an attempt to clear it, she continued walking at a somewhat more brisk pace. She had barely made it five steps before she paused, her hand subconsciously moving towards her bag.

Had she just seen a leg disappear behind the corner of the building? Was somebody watching her? Did somebody know what she was carrying? Was it Lelouch? Did he know she had seen him?

What started off as completely reasonable paranoia had begun to control her, reason and clear thought dissolving in a caustic sea of unproven concerns. That wasn't to say these concerns weren't legitimate, however – especially when the extremely illegal contents of her bag were taken into account. In less than twenty-four hours, Shirley had committed several serious criminal offences.

She had deliberately acted against the Britannian military when participating in an investigation at a live battle scene.

She had carried – and was still carrying – an unlicensed firearm.

She was withholding information on the identity of someone who was regarded by Britannia as the most dangerous 'terrorist' in the world.

And worst of all, she had killed a Britannian officer.

She had killed a Britannian officer to protect Lelouch.

She had killed for Lelouch.

Even after everything she had done for Lelouch, she was still trapped between what was the right thing to do and what was the wrong thing.

Her long-term crush had been responsible for her own father's death, but rational thought and a small amount of research before discovering his identity had led her to the conclusion that while Zero had been ultimately responsible for the landslide that had claimed her father's life, the Britannian military was extremely negligent in protecting the civilian population. Even without ordering an evacuation and alerting the Japan Liberation Front, there were many ways to shield the city from any damage it may inadvertently receive from the full-scale knightmare battle. If Shirley – someone with no military experience whatsoever – could name three such ways, then surely Cornelia Li Britannia would have been able to think of one.

Almost all of the blood drained out of her face as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Drawing in a sharp breath, she tried to turn around to see her assailant's face, but was stopped by another hand on the back of her head; evidently whoever it was didn't want to be seen – at least at the moment.

A silent push on her shoulder had her slowly making her way behind one of the rarely used sections of Ashford Academy, to an area which wasn't visible from any of the dormitories. Another almost gentle prod had her pressing herself up against the wall for fear of repercussions, her eyes clenched firmly in panic. The hand on her shoulder released her without warning after a few seconds, giving Shirley the opportunity to cautiously turn around.

What she saw was not what she had been expecting.

The person in front of her was not Lelouch, nor was it anyone in the uniform of the Order of the Black Knights. It wasn't a member of the Britannian military who had come to arrest her for one or more of her many crimes, either. Standing a few feet in front of her was a green-haired girl in the female uniform of Ashford Academy. If it wasn't for the girl's stern facial expression, Shirley would have immediately attempted to laugh it off as a harmless prank, despite knowing every person at the school and never having seen that one in her life.

Shirley broke the tense silence after a minute or two; it seemed like the girl was waiting for her to speak first.

"Who are you?"

"My name is C.C.," she replied immediately, evidently having seen the question coming. "I am Zero's partner."

Shirley bit her lip at the blunt admission, realising just how much danger she was in.

"Le–"

"–Lelouch," C.C finished, cutting her off. "So you _do_ know, after all."

Shirley didn't know whether it was patience or an intimidation attempt that kept the girl perfectly straight faced for the full minute it took her to reply, but if it was the latter, then it was certainly working.

"Lulu…Lelouch knows I was there?"

"Was where?" the C.C. replied, a smirk going unnoticed as it just barely passed across her lips.

"At the docks last ni–"

Shirley clamped both hands over her mouth, her eyes widening in shock. She'd been tricked and she knew it.

The girl was silent for a moment, staring at her without really looking like she was thinking at all. When she finally spoke, it was with a perfectly blank expression.

"You love him, don't you?"

It was a statement; her tone left no doubt that she felt positive of the answer. Shirley's fists went limp as a few of the tears she had been bottling up overnight were finally able to break free of their restraints.

"Zero killed my father! Why would…why would Lulu do that?"

"Was I wrong?" C.C. asked, completely ignoring her response.

"No! I mean yes…I mean–"

"–You may not know me, Shirley Fenette," C.C. interrupted, "but I know you."

Shirley backed up against the wall like a cornered animal, her hands shaking in fright. "W-What do you want?"

C.C. took a step towards her. "I've seen the way you act around him. I've seen your eyes when he's around. I've seen centuries' worth of fake love, but yours…yours isn't like the others."

Panicking, Shirley pressed both of her hands up against the wall and looked to either side repeatedly, trying to decide which way held the easiest escape.

_'Love? Why is she talking about love? Hasn't she come to kill me? Hasn't Lulu…Hasn't Lelouch sent her to kill me?'_

C.C. slowly reached out to her, never breaking eye contact as she moved closer. "Take my hand."

Looking back, Shirley had no idea what compelled her to take the green-haired girl's hand. Perhaps it was because there was some element of truth in C.C.'s words. Perhaps somewhere inside herself – subconsciously, even – she knew that if she didn't reach out, a side of her she had never seen would remain locked away forever.

Shirley's eyelids flickered open and closed rapidly as a myriad of broken images assaulted her mind. Lelouch, Milly, Rivalz, Lelouch, Kallen, her father, Lelouch, Nina – distorted images of everyone dear to her.

For a moment the images disappeared, and she was falling – falling down a never-ending tunnel. If it were to occur to her in real life, she would almost certainly have been overcome by vertigo, nausea, fear…something. As it were, she felt nothing.

Visions of things she had never seen – could never have known about – worked their way into her mind, and she was falling no longer. A child with long, blond hair which reached the floor below him, an underground city bathed in a purple hue, the Emperor of Britannia standing before the ruins of a temple and surrounded by a sea of golden clouds – these things had no reason to be in her head, and yet they were.

For a split-second she was falling again, before another set of images took hold of her. These were unlike the others, consisting purely of her deepest fears, worst memories and her most intense hatreds. Zero, identifying her father's lifeless body, the Order of the Black Knights, TV footage of the Narita landslide, the man she thought she knew…

…Lelouch.

He stared at her for a moment – his piercing purple eyes boring into her green ones. She wanted to back away – to shrink under the immense weight of his gaze – but found that she was unable to move. Her mind screamed at her legs to comply but they refused to respond, forcing her to watch as her vision was filled with thousands of Lelouches – each with their face concealed by a plain, white mask.

As one, the masks fell to the floor, shattering upon impact and blanketing her in a sea of darkness.

Before she could react, five blindingly bright cables made from no obvious substance snaked out to seize her – one grasping each limb and another firmly affixed around her torso – drawing her through a pair of opened doors, each marked with an electric blue sigil in the shape of a bird.

Whatever Shirley had been expecting to find beyond the foreboding structures, the eternal void of pure white nothingness caught her off-guard.

"Do you seek power?"

"What?…Power? What is this place? Why would I want–" she began, cutting herself as she spun around, searching almost frantically for the voice.

"Ah but you do," the voice continued. "Last night you shot a Britannian officer to save Lelouch, but you don't know whether or not saving him was the right thing to do…yet."

Shirley's eyes were wide in shock and she would have taken a step backwards if she hadn't been petrified that there might not be anything solid to stand on around her.

"You…How did you–"

"–You seek power more than anything at the moment. You don't know what it is you want to do, but you know that you must do something.

The statement hit home and she gulped, strengthening her resolve. "And you…you can give me this power?"

"Yes. I can."

"But why?" she shouted, clenching her fists in frustration. "Why would you give it to me?"

The voice – which she had identified as being C.C.'s under the echoing effects – remained silent.

"What kind of power?" Shirley finally asked, her voice shaking slightly in apprehension.

"You will be granted the means to achieve your deepest desire; however, your heart is conflicted as to what that is. Your power will be either the greatest tool at Lelouch's disposal, or the most deadly when used against him. With it you will be able to make his plans become a reality, yet you will also be able to make him throw away his life with ease."

An image flashed in front of her eyes, disappearing before she could take notice of any more than the golden background.

"No matter what happens, one thing is certain; you will use your power in the name of Lelouch. You will have to choose whether to use it to help him, or use it to destroy him. You may not have to make this choice for days, months, or even years, but the day will come when it must be made."

She made an attempt to respond, but was startled by sharp outlines of both herself and C.C. flashing randomly in front of her. There was something mesmerising about the images that kept her looking, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

"And how do you know I won't choose to de-destroy him?" Shirley questioned heatedly, stuttering slightly at the insinuation that she might want to kill Lelouch.

"Because you love him," C.C. replied without hesitation.

Shirley bit her lip as she prepared a retort, finally speaking with more confidence than she honestly possessed at that moment. "How could you know that when I don't even know myself?"

"I told you before; I've seen centuries' worth of love, but yours isn't like the others."

For the first time, Shirley began to contemplate that C.C. hadn't merely been exaggerating when she used the word 'centuries.' The things she had been shown over the last few minutes gave her more than enough reason to suspect that she had meant 'centuries' in the literal sense. That left one question in her mind.

What exactly was C.C.?

The sketchy outlines of her figure appeared momentarily once again as she did her best to analyse the situation. No matter where her thoughts led her, they always came to the conclusion that C.C. must have had some ulterior motive for offering this 'power' to her.

"What about you? What do you get out of this?" she asked hesitantly, almost afraid of the answer.

"This is a contract. In return for power, I want you to grant me one of my wishes."

Shirley stared directly ahead, where she thought C.C.'s voice was coming from. "Wishes…?"

"You will be my backup plan, should Lelouch fail to fulfil our contract. I will not inform him that you have entered into one with me, but whether or not you choose to is up to you."

The same image appeared before her for less than a second. It showed the platform she had seen Charles Zi Britannia stand upon as she was dragged into this world, although he wasn't the only one this time. Lelouch stood in front of him, each staring the other in the eye. For a moment she couldn't fathom for what reason Lelouch could be meeting with the Emperor, but finally she realised the chilling truth.

Lelouch's goal wasn't to be a terrorist and protest against Britannian rule; he wanted to fight them.

Lelouch wanted to go to war with the Holy Britannian Empire.

"If you agree to the contract, you will live as a human, but differ from other humans. A different source, a different time, a different life," C.C. continued. "The power of the King will make you isolated. If you are prepared for that…"

Shirley knew she had only one real choice. Hardening her resolve, she prepared herself to walk down a path she would never be able to turn back from.

"This contract…I accept it!"

In the end, she knew only one word.

**Geass.**

* * *

When Shirley regained consciousness, there was no sign of the green-haired girl.

_'Was it all a dream?'_ she wondered as she rubbed her head and pulled herself off the ground. _'No. That couldn't have been a dream.'_

What would she use her power for, though? Would she help Lelouch, or help to destroy him? Could she deliberately harm someone she loved, or at least knew she loved until recently? On the other hand, could she allow someone like Zero to get away and cause more pain for so many people?

These were the questions that plagued her. Even ignoring the subject of Lelouch, she had no idea which side of this 'war' she wanted to be on. Sure, she was a Britannian citizen herself, but even from within the sheltered lifestyle led by most students of Ashford Academy, she could see Britannia for what it was – a corrupt society where the strong were encouraged to oppress the weak. But was that enough to justify Lelouch's actions?

"**You will have to choose whether to use it to help him, or use it to destroy him. You may not have to make this choice for days, months, or even years, but the day will come when it must be made."**

"I'm sorry, Father," Shirley muttered. "This day isn't about me or Lelouch; today is about you."

Brushing a thin layer of dust off her uniform from lying on the ground, she quickly checked the time on her watch, thankful that she wasn't out cold for too long.

"If I hurry, I can still make it to the train in time."

* * *

**Narita**

"I know what you're thinking," the man – who had identified himself as 'Mao' – stated. "You're thinking that perhaps if you use your Geass, you might be able to escape. Am I right?"

Shirley made no attempt to respond, just as she had seemingly ignored every statement or question he had directed at her over the course of the cable car ride. He appeared completely unperturbed by her silence, continuing with his one-sided conversation as if it was unnecessary for her to respond at all.

"It seems I am," he continued, letting out a loud, mocking laugh. He gestured to a chess board on the stairs between himself and Shirley. "But that doesn't matter; my Geass is one which yours cannot possibly defeat."

She fidgeted with the hem of her skirt, once again not offering a response. However it was no longer by choice; her mind clouded over as the memory of Mao's words clawed at her conscience.

"**You can't forgive those kinds of people."**

He gestured to a chess board on the stairs between himself and Shirley. "How about a game of chess while we wait? I must admit I've never played before."

"**You, who killed someone and seduced a man, are not fit to be a heroine. You are the wicked witch."**

Mao sighed dramatically. "No? Oh well, I guess I'll save my first game for our next guest."

"**You are a murderer. You have committed the same crime as Zero."**

This time he looked up, focussing his Geass to more clearly make out what she was thinking. A slight smirk appeared on his face, although he was careful not to allow a laugh to escape and break her thought processes. He silently reached into his pocket, abandoning his previous attempt at conversation.

"**It's time for you to get your just deserts."**

"**Embrace this emotion for the rest of your life. Embrace it all by yourself. If you don't bear your sins and set your heart free, you and Lelouch will be terribly pitiful."**

"**Punishment is required; both you and him."**

Punishment. That final statement echoed repeatedly in Shirley's head. Perhaps they did deserve punishment, but more than that, they owed it to those they had wronged to seek atonement.

She flinched as Mao placed a hand over her own with an almost kindly smile on his face, although it didn't quite reach his eyes. His other hand slowly reached out, offering to return the gun he had confiscated before boarding the cable car.

"You know what you have to do, Shirley Fenette."

* * *

Shirley clutched the back of Lelouch's jacket desperately, tears trailing down her cheeks. "But…Lulu, I shot you!"

"I forgive it, your sin. I'll bear all of it," he replied firmly, his eyes focussed intensely on a distant point over her shoulder.

She buried her head even further in the fabric of his jacket. Her breathing was beginning to return to normal, his forgiveness and comfort lulling her into a somewhat calmer state and drying up her tears. "I wanted you to be kind to me."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Even though father died…" she mumbled, a feeling of light-headedness beginning to creep into her system and blur her thoughts.

Lelouch released the hug and gripped her shoulders firmly. He locked his gaze onto hers. "Forget it. It's okay if you want to forget all the horrible things."

"I can't do it!" she screamed, writhing uncomfortably under the weight of his words. She ducked her head to avoid his stare.

"You can. I'll make you forget everything."

She looked up at him, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "Don't tell me…"

"Shirley, I'm sorry about your father. If reincarnation exists, I will…"

He trailed off as the Geass sigil flared to life in his left eye.

"Lulu…" she began, panic setting in as she realised what he was planning to do. "No!"

Whether it had been out of pity, love, or some sense of obligation, he would never tell her for as long as they lived. Perhaps he had yearned to forget the weight of his own sins – an impossible desire to release himself from a duty he was obligated to see through to the very end – but she was never to know.

She would never ask him why, either; however selfish it may have seemed, she would be forever thankful for the chance to have one more year of innocence at Ashford Academy before she had to make a decision that would affect the entire world.

* * *

**2018 a.t.b**

**Tokyo Settlement**

It was raining heavily as Shirley made her way back to Ashford Academy. A pink umbrella protected her from being drenched, although it wasn't able to stop the ground being slightly slippery and difficult to traverse in her heels. Her gloved left hand held a pink communication device to her ear, connected to Rivalz back in the Student Council room.

"Lulu will be talking to the Gardening Club…"

"Well that's fine if Lelouch is doing it; he's better at those sorts of things, anyway," he quipped over the phone, laughing wildly at his own wit. "I guess I'll see you when you get back, then?"

Shirley smiled; Rivalz had never been one to volunteer for any work when there was a chance he could hoodwink Lelouch into doing it. "Okay, see you!"

Her mind was still caught up in details of the impending negotiations with the gardening club when she first felt the effects. It was something she couldn't describe with regular expressions; as if a pressure was being exerted on her mind, and a weight being lifted from it simultaneously.

She froze as a string of images pierced her thoughts, restoring the memories which were rightfully hers. Lelouch and her shopping for one of Milly's ridiculous events, Lelouch and the rest of the school council at the beach, Lelouch wearing an absolutely unflattering pair of swimming shorts nobody had ever seen before or ever would again, Lelouch telling her to forget…

"I remember…" she whispered, a haunted expression in her eyes. "Zero, the man who killed my father is…"

A single tear rolled down her cheek.

"…Lelouch!"

* * *

**The Next Day**

**Ashford Academy**

Shirley awoke with a start, trying desperately to relegate the terrifying images of Zero to the deepest recesses of her mind. The same nightmare – with Villetta, and Lelouch wearing that terrifying white mask – had repeated itself so many times over the course of the night, that Shirley was no longer sure whether it had been based on an actual event or something her vivid imagination had conjured by itself.

She slowly sat up on her bed, giving up on going back to sleep for at least the twentieth time.

_'That's right.' _She reminded herself, her expression uncharacteristically apathetic. _'Lulu is Zero, and I have to avenge my father…'_

* * *

**5th Circinate Line**

Shirley leant lightly against the door of the monorail carriage, her eyes glazed over in contemplation. She truly had no idea what she was supposed to do; would she fight for Lelouch, or would she fight against him?

The manner in which her memories had been returned was so flawless that had she not regained the memory of Lelouch using his Geass on her, or held suspicions in advance, she would likely never have even guessed that there was ever anything wrong. There was no information dump, and no misplaced memories; everything which had been lost to her, had been returned in perfect condition.

Amongst all of those memories was the one thing that scared her the most.

Geass.

She knew she possessed a Geass, and the thought of what she could do with it chilled her to the bone. Although it was close, not even the knowledge of Zero's identity had the same impact on her; she had almost accepted Lelouch's secret identity by now, yet was unable to make a decision on what to do regarding it.

"**With it you will be able to make his plans become a reality, yet you will also be able to make him throw away his life with ease."**

C.C. had told her she had to make a choice, and Shirley knew it was one which would affect the future of the entire world. If she made the wrong choice, her Geass could leave the world in far worse condition than what it currently was. She had no idea how she could use a Geass like hers to cause such widespread chaos, but for some reason she couldn't help but trust the green-haired girl.

The decision she had to make was something far more complex than 'Lelouch or Britannia.' Regardless of the regimes proposed by either, a full-scale war was inevitable if Lelouch was allowed to continue. There had been a number of battles over the past year and a half, but never ones with the sheer number of personnel Lelouch would need to seriously challenge the Emperor.

"**It's not like that. It has nothing to do with that. Even I think that what happened at Narita was…"**

Regardless of what her beliefs were, Shirley wasn't like Lelouch and Suzaku. She wasn't a visionary with plans to change the world for the better. She wanted the fighting to stop, and she wanted the people of the world to be safe at home with their families and friends, not worrying about fighting a war and whether or not they'd ever return home.

That was why she had asked Suzaku to meet her at the Ikebukuro Station. Her conviction had been so strong an hour earlier when she had placed the call, but that had entirely dissipated by the time she even boarded the monorail. Despite her best efforts, her mind could no longer separate her feeling for Lelouch from his identity as Zero, her desires from the world's, subjectivity from objectivity. All she could do now was to reminisce on what once was, and how things had gone so bad.

_'Lulu is Zero…Ms. Villetta is a soldier…Kallen is with the Order of the Black Knights. Then what about Nina? The President? Rivalz? Is it just the academy that's strange? Why is Nunna the Governor-General? What is a lie? What is the truth?'_

* * *

**Ikebukuro Station**

There were surprisingly few people around as she made her way to the location where her and Suzaku had agreed to meet; a couple walking next to her earlier had been saying something about a few of the carriages being out of service for maintenance, so she supposed that might have explained it.

Shirley didn't think it was possible for her heart to ever beat faster than it was when she had been pointing the gun at Lelouch, but somehow it was. At least then she had her own finger on the trigger the entire time; if she handed Lelouch over to Suzaku and the Britannian Military, he would be pursued relentlessly and there would be nothing she could do if she had a change of heart.

"Shirley."

Looking up from the ground, the first thing she saw was Suzaku.

The first and only thought running through her head was of Lelouch.

Panicked, she tried to get away, escape, anything to give her just a little bit more time to make her decision. She couldn't do anything unless she was absolutely sure it was right.

"Wait," he called, lifting a pair of frameless, black sunglasses from his eyes. "It's me."

She turned to face him in silence.

"Why did you ask me to come out all of a sudden?"

Shirley bit her lip, silently wishing for anyone, anything to save her from the uncomfortable situation. She was preparing herself to attempt to pass it off as an sneaky attempt at weaselling a date out of him – however unfair it might have been on Suzaku – when her prayers were both answered and crushed simultaneously.

"Shirley?"

Suzaku slowly turned around, an expression on his face which was somewhere between curiosity and suspicion.

"Lelouch?"

* * *

Shirley excused herself momentarily as her, Suzaku and Lelouch made their way towards the roof. The two boys entered a nearby store as she left, casually browsing aisles of merchandise and continuing to exchange the same, almost artificial, small talk they had been keeping up for the past few minutes.

Headed towards the emergency exit instead of the bathroom, she was relieved to find that the door to the stairwell wasn't alarmed as many at shopping centres and other public facilities were. It seemed to be deserted, but she headed down a flight anyway just to make sure. She allowed her eyes to slowly close over; it wasn't safe for her to be near the two as she was.

When they reopened, a bright red Geass sigil blazed fiercely in her left eye.

She had to make a final decision, but before that she had another choice to make; she could return to Lelouch and Suzaku, or she could escape.

She did both.

* * *

"This is the border," Lelouch commented, looking out over the edge of the rooftop.

"Between the Settlement and the ghetto," Suzaku added, a slight tinge of anger creeping into his voice. "But I _will_ remove this boundary, someday…"

_'Wait…What if they're working together?'_ Shirley narrowed her eyebrows. _'To restore Area 11 to Japan…'_

She looked at each of them in turn through her peripheral vision.

_'That's right. They've been best friends for a long time.'_

The sound of two white masks falling to the floor together echoed in her mind as she began to run towards the edge.

* * *

Shirley gasped as she stared down at the ground far beneath her feet. She was easily at a lethal height if she was to fall, and the only thing preventing her from doing so was…

She gulped and looked up.

_'Lulu…'_

"No!" she screamed, writhing desperately in an attempt to force Lelouch to drop her. "Let me go! Let me go!"

How could she have been so stupid as to put Lelouch and Suzaku in that kind of danger? Lelouch was entirely hanging over the edge and Suzaku was the kind of person who would never let go of them, even if he was only holding on by one finger himself.

_'Lulu…Please…Let go…I'll be alright…'_

"No! I won't let go!" he told her forcefully, shocking Shirley enough to force her to look up at him. "I don't…I don't want to lose anything else. I don't want to lose anything at all."

His expression at that time betrayed his anguish more than any she had ever seen on his face.

"Shirley!"

_'Lulu…'_

She took his hand.

* * *

"You had something important to talk about?"

Shirley came to a halt and turned to face Suzaku. "I…I like Lulu."

He flinched, but said nothing.

"You don't like him, Suzaku?"

"I…used to like him…" he replied, slowly removing his sunglasses and placing them in his pocket.

"What about now?" she asked, a deceptively loaded question masked by the light manner in which she delivered it. He didn't reply, but she had been expecting that and continued regardless. "I thought it was strange…You used to be such good friends. Did you fight?"

"I can't forgive him."

Shirley's responded immediately; she had spent the last fifteen minutes planning this conversation in her head. "Nothing's unforgivable. I'm sure it's just you who can't forgive him. Because you don't want to."

Suzaku was visibly taken aback.

"I've already forgiven him a long time ago," she added, truly smiling for the first time since regaining her memories.

He narrowed his eyebrows. "Shirley, you–"

The conversation was cut short by an explosion of some kind coming from the station. Suzaku immediately raced towards the officers on duty, Shirley hot on his heels.

"I'm the Knight of Seven, Kururugi Suzaku," he stated clearly, displaying his badge and reaching into a pocket for his headset. "There's a possibility of terrorist involvement. I'll supervise the police and firefighters in the vicinity from here on out."

"Yes, My Lord!"

He tilted his head to the side, indicating Shirley. "I'd like you to protect her."

Suzaku was gone before the officers could even give an answer, sprinting around the facility to identify likely escape routes for terrorists and any external damage. One of the two guards – for they had turned out to be regular security guards, and not police officers as Shirley had first thought – escorted her to where the police cars were beginning to arrive.

"I need you to step into this car."

Shirley took a step backwards, pulling out her phone. "Can I make a call first?"

The guard thought for a moment and nodded, leaving to give her some privacy, but remaining close enough to observe her. She placed four separate calls, but Lelouch never picked up.

"Please step into the car," the guard insisted, interrupting her fifth attempt. "It's an order from the Knight of Seven."

_'All alone…'_ Shirley slid her phone shut silently. _'…Lulu could be fighting all alone…'_

Ignoring the guard's cries, she sprinted towards the station; if there was anything she could do to help Lelouch, she would do it. It wasn't until she was almost there that she realised she had made her way over to the unguarded secondary entrance in her haste; the concentration of gas was far higher there, and the police didn't have the correct breathing material on-site to risk standing near it.

_'Maybe I shouldn't…'_ she thought, pausing only a few steps away from the door. A quick glance around her showed that she was alone. _'…It's best if I don't.'_

Shirley Fenette ran away as fast as her legs would carry her.

Away from Ikebukuro Station.

Away from Lelouch.

* * *

"I like you, Lulu. Even though I found out you got my father involved, I didn't come to dislike you…Even though you made me forget everything, I came to like you again…Even though my memories were manipulated, I came to like you again…"

"You can't!" Lelouch screamed hysterically, almost tearing the contact from his left eye. "Don't die, Shirley!"

Red rings appeared around her eyes, but nothing could stop their body from dying. "No matter how many times I'm reborn, I'm sure I'll come to like you again…" Her voice wavered as more blood began to pour out of the wound. "This must be fate, right…?"

"Don't die, Shirley!" Tears were beginning to pool in his eyes. "Don't die! Don't die!"

"So it's okay, right, Lulu?" she asked, tears forming in her own as Lelouch's began to roll down his cheeks. "To be reborn, and come to like you again…? I'll come to like you, no matter how many times…

Her hand slipped from his, falling lifelessly to the floor.

"Shirley...Shirley!"

It was silent.

Lelouch screamed.

* * *

**One mile from Ikebukuro Station.**

Shirley stood form her position on a park bench, seemingly asleep to anybody who was paying attention. She could get in contact with Lelouch in a few days' time, but she'd have to get as far away as possible now; Ikebukuro station had become a crime scene.

It had hurt her to say those words to Lelouch, but she knew that Rolo could have returned at any moment. Whilst it didn't matter to her whether Rolo saw Lelouch upset over her death or not, if he had overheard her telling him that she would survive, she would be in even greater danger.

She bit back a tear. It would have been easy to simply die without the speech, but some part of her took a guilty pleasure in hearing Lelouch shout at her to survive, even going as far as to use his Geass – a Geass she was still under the effects of.

"**A manipulative woman. You acted pitiful on purpose because you wanted him to be nice to you."**

It was manipulative, and she knew it; that thought alone almost made her sick.

_'I'm sorry, Lelouch...I'll make it up to you…'_ she promised. _'…I'll help you destroy Britannia.'_

"**You will have to choose whether to use it to help him, or use it to destroy him."**

Shirley Fenette was dead, but she had made her choice.

* * *

**The Headquarters of The Order of the Black Knights**

Kallen's eyes were wide in shock as Shirley stopped speaking and turned to face her; her friend's eyes had never left the moon the entire time she was speaking. It took her a few seconds to realise that she had reflexively taken a few steps backwards over the course of the story; if she hadn't been so confused – and somewhat concerned – then she would have blushed at her actions.

"Geass?" Kallen questioned, breaking the tense silence between them. "You were given a Geass?"

She nodded.

"Then this headband…" Kallen began, holding up the accessory she had taken from her corpse. "It means nothing, does it?"

"No."

The pair watched as it gradually fell, finally hitting the street below.

"Your Geass…" Kallen was almost afraid to ask her next question. "What…What is its power?"

Shirley returned her gaze to the moon, a bittersweet smile on her lips.

"…Absolute Animation."

Kallen gasped, flinching visibly at her words. If that was what she thought it was…

"Absolute Animation?" she repeated, her lower lip trembling. "Does that mean…"

* * *

**A/N: Damn, that was easily the hardest chapter I've ever written. If there's one thing I hate to do in my writing, it's to re-write canon. Unfortunately, to get this chapter in sync with canon, I had to use a lot of it. I had three goals for this chapter:**

**1) Introduce the new elements to the story.**

**2) Re-write as little canon as possible, while still ensuring maximum continuity and no plot-holes.  
**

**3) Flesh out Shirley's dilemma MUCH more than what they did in canon. I wanted to portray exactly what she was feeling through everything she went though, and how she inevitably came to the decision to side with Lelouch.**

**This was a horribly daunting task to begin with (which is why it took so long - sorry *sad*), but I think I pulled it off alright. **

**I tried a few tricky things like with the original Mao cable car scene, combining the graveyard scene with my original one by quoting it in Shirley's thoughts. I'm really interested to know what people thought of that one. =)**

**Hopefully I managed to confuse the hell out of some of you with the ridiculous number of (deliberately) paradoxical sentences. Don't worry, all of them are perfectly accurate! It's a paradox that's perfectly possible. What's that? A dual-layer paradox? =S**

* * *

**What I would like to hear about if you decide to review:**

**1) What did you think of this chapter style-wise? Please read the above explanation before answering this one =D**

**2) What did you think about how I fleshed out Shirley's thoughts leading up to her death? I put a lot of effort into making a realistic transition from shooting at him to shooting in his name with some vacillation in the middle, so hopefully it turned out alright! =)  
**

**Theories:  
**

**3) What is Shirley's Geass?**

**4) Why was the Zero mask silver?**

* * *

**A/N: I'm returning to school for a year of part-time Year 12 and part-time university in a week (yes, I'm insane), so my updates might be a bit slower than usual. When I say 'a bit slower than usual' I don't mean 'a bit slower than this one,' however. This chapter was exceptionally difficult to write, so it was way over my usual upload time. **

**I'm thinking Phase 9 should be out by...February 5th? That gives me a week and a half to get it done and posted. It should be enough, but if it isn't out by then, check this page again and I might have edited a schedule update in. =D**

**_EDIT (05/02/09): There's only one more scene left in Phase 9, but I've got an assessment tomorrow, so I can't really work on it tonight. The remaining scene is fairly lengthy, though; hopefully I can finish and upload it tomorrow night. Failing that, it will probably be up the day after. =)_  
**

**Cheers,**

**Lord Bear  
**


	9. Phase 9

**1:00 A.M.**

**Aerial Fortress Damocles**

The cold cup of tea lay forgotten on one of the many tables in Schneizel's private lounge, both men far too tired to acknowledge its presence and clear it away. Regardless of the serene expression he maintained at all times, Schneizel could succumb to exhaustion just like any other human – Britannian Prince or not. Even so, he would never show it, nor would he be seen to display any emotion other than indifference. People could be forgiven for thinking he rarely had a true thought pass through his mind. They would be incorrect, however; at all times he had at least one.

"**A strong soldier is one who obeys his leader's orders implicitly and a strong leader is one who can evoke absolute support from his soldiers."**

His oldest memories were of this piece of wisdom, yet he had no recollection of who had gifted it to him. Perhaps it was Charles Zi Britannia. He often thought it might have been the Emperor, but ultimately paid it no heed. It was the philosophy by which he swore; that was enough.

He turned his head to look at the man in the other chair. The black cloak he had once worn lay discarded on the ground beside him, although there was something to be said about his meticulousness in the fact that it had been perfectly folded, even in exhaustion. His regal clothing was similarly free of any imperfections, despite having been seated in the same position for several hours. Even his posture was formal enough that if it weren't for his eyes being closed, it would be difficult to recognise that he was asleep at all.

Schneizel wanted to go to sleep himself, but had decided to instead wait for an update from the Area 11 law enforcement. It was worth waiting, even though he knew that they were extremely unlikely to have any sort of substantial lead on someone who had evaded them so spectacularly. The two had learnt enough about this person for the moment, but they had agreed that Schneizel should wait for the call so as not to alienate his soldiers.

As if sensing his thoughts, an orange light appeared next to the display in front of them, indicating that there was an incoming call waiting. He slowly fiddled with the controls on the table next to him, ensuring that the camera was focused entirely on his own face, before accepting the call.

"This is Schneizel El Britannia."

"Your highness!" the man on the other end began with a mix of nervousness and excitement. It wasn't somebody Schneizel remembered having ever spoken to before. "We have had a number of officers examine the area below the execution site and have come to the conclusion that Zero escaped in a car."

"A car? He had access to at least four knightmare frames; why would he use a car?"

"Well, probably because it was more difficult to track or easier to hide or…" the man trailed off in embarrassment, having finally realised that Schneizel was speaking to himself, rather than asking for his opinions.

"How do you know it was a car?"

"There was a video camera in the area below, one of the many set up in response to Zero repeatedly taking advantage of the interlocking plate system over the last few years. They were all fairly cheap ones, so the quality isn't good," he explained hesitantly, ducking his head slightly at the end as if expecting the blame for the cost-cutting measures to fall to him.

"I would like to see this tape."

Schneizel waited until the man reappeared on the screen after the video before he responded. "What happened to the pilots in those knightmares? I didn't see them get out."

The officer turned slightly green at the question. "We found them inside their frames. They had each been shot in the head, most likely by themselves. Their names were checked on the records and two of the four had been suspected of terrorist involvement, but it was never proven."

"Have you recovered Kanon or made any progress identifying this new 'Zero'?" Schneizel asked, despite being fairly certain that the answer would be no.

"Nothing on Kanon yet, Your Highness. This should explain why we were unable to track the tire-marks."

Schneizel watched in complete apathy as the video feed switched to sped-up footage of Zero driving in and out of the underground area in the same direction for almost twenty minutes. The timestamp identified it as taking place during the early morning hours of the day.

The man reappeared on the screen and began speaking immediately. "We've got a team of professionals trying to trace the tire-marks, but there are so many different sets that it could take up to three hours to find the most recent one."

"Is that all?"

"Yes, Your Highness!" he replied formally, saluting the camera.

Schneizel nodded and ended the call, leaning back against his chair. He hadn't expected anything more from the local officers; with Kanon out of the picture they were nothing more than a bunch of green recruits, all trained from scratch in the aftermath of Odysseus' ascension.

A cough distracted him from his thoughts. "You're awake?"

"I woke up during the first video," his companion admitted. "It is somewhat disconcerting that my subordinate fell prey to that scheme."

Schneizel furrowed his brow. "I will think of some way to punish him when he returns."

"Do what you want," he replied indifferently. "Will he remain loyal if you do?"

"I have taken measures to ensure his continued loyalty."

Both men stood, one picking up his cloak and wrapping it back around his shoulders. "I know you have. Don't concern yourself with Zero for the moment; just worry about completing your duties."

Schneizel walked towards the door and opened it for him.

"Yes, My Lord!"

* * *

**Tokyo**

Suzaku didn't know how long they had been driving. It could have been two hours, maybe three since 'Zero' had saved him from execution; Britannia may have wanted him to appear pristine for the execution, but they weren't so hospitable as to provide him with any accessories capable of telling time. The car's stereo system was likewise unhelpful; if the volume was set to maximum, the Britannian police would be instantly alerted by the echoes when he turned it on.

This 'Zero' was an enigma. Since ushering him into the car, he hadn't spoken at all. His most recent words were that they could 'talk more once they were in the clear,' but evidently he didn't believe that to be the case yet.

Perhaps he was focussing on the road; that could explain his reluctance to enter into any sort of conversation. Everything surrounding them was pitch-black, save for the light given off by the lowest setting on the car's headlights. It was a miracle that Zero was able to navigate for this long without so much as once touching a map. It was an even greater miracle that he could maintain close to top-speed without colliding with any of the columns holding the Settlement up. Even Suzaku wouldn't have been able to accomplish such a feat without at least a few test runs of the route.

'_This has been planned far in advance,'_ he realised, his eyes lighting up at the prospect that the Black Knights still had the resources and ability to pull off such a heist. A second thought struck him a moment later, his elation immediately dissolving into solemnity. _'Zero was always known for his miracles.'_

Lelouch had been the original Zero, bestowing the title – for that was what 'Zero' had become – to him when he died. Suzaku had promised to see his duty as Zero through until the end, but now somebody else wore the mask.

If they were from the Order of the Black Knights, he had nothing to worry about; they would hand it back over once they were safe. If it was someone else entirely, then he would have to take action.

Suzaku clenched his teeth. Lelouch had left the responsibility to him; he would carry the burden until he could no longer do so. He didn't know whether he would pass the torch yet again when he became too old, or whether the world would be content for Zero to die, but before then he wouldn't allow anybody else to encroach on Lelouch's trust.

The car pulled up abruptly, startling Suzaku and throwing the unconscious Kanon to the floor.

Suzaku winced. That would hurt when he woke up.

Zero wasted no time opening his door and motioning for him to follow; Kanon was left lying face-down on the floor. He was led towards what appeared to be an abandoned building, an eerie sense of déjà vu accompanying him as he walked. The glass doors at the front had several deep cracks in them, the roof had caved in on one side of the lobby, and the only room accessible from it seemed to be through a pair of doors on the far side. Zero motioned for him to enter.

It wasn't until Suzaku set foot in the room that he fully understood the source of his familiarity with the area. It had been the same building the Black Knights – Lelouch – had taken him to when he was first rescued from execution. Some of the tension drained away from him; only the Black Knights could have known about the significance of this place. It was true that he no longer had to concern himself with the possibility of a Zero with different motives and goals, but it also meant that they wouldn't be able to secure the services of another brilliant strategist.

He chuckled to himself. He had been so naïve the last time he was here.

"Kururugi Suzaku."

He looked up to see Zero standing on the stage and moved to join him. "Who are you?"

Zero ignored his question. "Have you lost the will to live?"

"Wh–what?" Suzaku stuttered. _'Who is he? Tōdō, maybe? Cornelia?'_

"You aren't Kururugi Suzaku."

The statement took him off-guard. "What do you mean?"

"Kururugi Suzaku would never have allowed me to lead him for three and a half hours without knowledge of where we were going and what my plans were. You never attempted to speak to me, despite these conditions," he stated. "Have you become so dependent on Zero that you have forgotten Suzaku?"

Despite being almost certain about Zero's identity, Suzaku refused to directly answer the question. He would find his own path. He walked past Zero and leant against the wall with his right hand. "It is difficult to be Zero."

"I know."

"How would you know?" he growled.

He seemed unconcerned by Suzaku's vehemence. "I am Zero right now."

Suzaku fought down the urge to punch the wall in front of him. "Wearing the mask doesn't make you Zero! Mine was broken, but _that_ doesn't make you Zero either!"

"You truly have forgotten Suzaku. Has your time in Schneizel's captivity affected you this much?" Zero asked. He continued without waiting for an answer. "You can't continue living as Kururugi Suzaku, but you can't continue living without him either. As for your mask, you can take mine."

He lifted a hand to his head and detached the mask, offering it to Suzaku over his shoulder.

"Thank you," he replied, accepting the mask. He held it in his hands for a few moments, turning it over and staring at it intently.

"It was no problem."

"Stop acting, Tōdō. I understand what you're trying to say, but I…" Suzaku trailed off, eyes wider than they had ever been in his life. In that moment he realised something impossible.

He held Zero's mask, but the man's voice hadn't changed.

Suzaku's heart beat wildly in his chest. _'It couldn't be…could it?'_

Slowly, as if barely able to force his body to move, he turned around, coming face to face with _those_ eyes.

The eyes of Lelouch Vi Britannia.

The eyes of a King.

"Lelouch…"

Before Suzaku could finish his sentence, Lelouch moved forward and pierced his neck with a syringe, injecting the entirety of the chamber into his bloodstream. He lost consciousness immediately and crumpled to the ground, the drug seizing control of his mind.

Lelouch watched emotionlessly as the mask of Zero hit the ground, the last vestiges of a blue liquid dripping out of the needle at his side.

"Forgive me Suzaku. I have deceived you more than you could know."

* * *

**2010 a.t.b.**

**August 10**

**Kururugi Shrine**

Midday at Kururugi Shrine saw two young boys taking refuge from the sun's scorching rays in the cool upper-branches of the courtyard's tallest tree. Lelouch leant against the trunk with his hands behind his head, his legs resting on one of the tree's branches, one foot on top of the other.

To his left hung a black bag from a small knot, comfortably within reach of even the most athletically-disinclined ex-Britannian – a title which Lelouch was loath to admit that he was the leading contender for. To his right sat a mahogany chess board, placed across two parallel branches which jutted out from the main trunk at Lelouch's breast level. Since they had befriended each other, Suzaku and Lelouch had often spent their days sitting in that tree and playing chess. This was such a common occurrence that the two had sourced out a hammer and nails to permanently affix their board to the natural beams supporting it.

Of course, this almost only ever took place when Nunnally was unavailable to join them. Unless she was sleeping, eating, or completing the meditation exercises she had been taught in order to deal with the stress of her mother's assassination; Lelouch refused to leave his little sister behind, being unable to climb trees herself. Very few times had he deliberately sent her away; even then, it was an act of mercy, protecting her from the harsh truth of what he and Suzaku were discussing.

Lelouch's expression as he sat was anything but serene. His posture may have indicated perfect contentment, but his eyebrows were knitted together above his closed eyes in intense concentration. Details filtered through his head faster than that of even the most intelligent adults. He had not been a Britannian Prince for nothing; chess was an absolute necessity for any child of Charles Zi Britannia's to learn, and he was no exception. As it was he had excelled spectacularly at the game during his stay at Pendragon Palace; the only two people who had regularly defeated him – and he had faced many opponents – were his elder brother, Schneizel El Britannia; and his father, Charles Zi Britannia.

Lelouch Vi Britannia was no child when it came to strategic planning; his record proved that much.

Regardless, it would take incredible skill, dedication, and commitment to achieve his goals. He would have to be stronger than the world to achieve them, but one day he would. He had promised himself that he would, for Nunnally's sake.

His sister's eyes – the eyes he would give anything to see open again – had been sealed shut by the horrors she had witnessed. So far gone was any hope he may have retained that his father's rule was redeemable, that every fibre of his being ached to see the man brought to justice.

From the beginning, Lelouch knew only one thing.

He would destroy Britannia.

On the opposite side of the chess board, on an almost identical branch to the one Lelouch occupied, sat Suzaku. Unlike his foreign counterpart, Suzaku sat with one knee held to his chest and the other dangling over the edge. His left shoulder was pressed against the trunk to balance him.

In contrast to the perpetually stern-faced Lelouch, Suzaku had a falsely tranquil expression adorning his features. The next day, Prime Minister Kururugi Genbu – his father – was to announce a do-or-die resistance policy against their Britannian invaders. Blood would be shed in the thousands of litres, people would have their loved ones torn away from them through conscription and futile attempts at militant patriotism, and eventualy Britannia would win. These were the facts; there was no changing them through force.

The political situation hit Suzaku far harder than it hit Lelouch. Despite Lelouch finally acknowledging Japan as his home, Suzaku was related by blood to the leader of Japan and hence felt an obligation – no matter how young he was – to do the best that he could for his country. It was futile to resist Britannia's invasion; the only thing they could do was to disarm and allow Britannia to claim them as one of their colonies.

No matter how many times he tried to convince his father to drop the resistance, the man disregarded his political comment as almost any leader would to a child. Suzaku may have been a child physically, but nobody who had been fully exposed to the almost frightening mind of Lelouch Vi Britannia could retain the impossible desires and naiveties of the average child.

Suzaku knew without a doubt that the only way to prevent the pointless carnage was to kill his father. Without him, the Japanese would surrender to Britannia, but they would survive – that was what was most important. It wasn't a pleasant thought to know he had chosen to end the life of his own flesh and blood, but it was a choice he had to make. There was only one way to save Japan, and it wasn't through the system. He would embark on the path of carnage, yet it would be carnage of his own choosing; every drop of blood spilled would be for Japan.

From the beginning, Suzaku knew only one thing.

He would destroy Britannia.

"You've left your Queen open here," Lelouch pointed out, moving his own Queen – the White Queen – to capture the piece. He indicated the square below his knight. "You could have played here instead. Sometimes it's better to send a mole into the enemy base than to attempt a frontal attack."

Suzaku chewed the inside of his lip. "I didn't see that."

"That's understandable; you were probably trying to distract me from my check by launching an attack here," he commented in his distinctly un-childlike tone, pointing to his own Queen. He sighed and moved a Pawn forward. "You shouldn't have defended against it at all. My check was a fake to distract you; even if I had followed through on it, you could easily have cut me off by hiding your King behind your Queen."

"I see." In truth Suzaku didn't understand entirely, but he could tell that Lelouch was trying to slow him down somewhat. He knew that he could be hot-headed at times, but for all his maturity he was still a child; creating a separate temperament for a board game was beyond him.

Lelouch, however, was the complete opposite; he was somewhat impulsive and quick to anger himself, but once he was behind a chess board he spoke with the air of a seasoned grandmaster.

Suzaku stared at the board, his eyes focussing on Lelouch's White pieces before coming to rest on his own Black ones. His eyes narrowed. "What are you doing, Lelouch?"

"Nothing." Lelouch seemed unconcerned, a smirk touching the corner of his lips.

"You've never let me win before; why would you do it now?" he growled, insulted by the blatant attempt at throwing the game.

His opponent shut his eyes again. "I'm not letting you win."

Suzaku's eyes scanned across the board once again, searching for any feasible way he could be wrong. He picked up the Black Knight and held it above a vacant square. "There's no way you can possibly win if I move here."

"Then do it."

He placed the piece down. "Checkmate."

Lelouch opened his eyes and looked at the board. "No it isn't."

"Yes it is!" Suzaku insisted. "There's only one square you can move your King to and it's covered by one of my Knights. The square it's on is covered by my other Knight and you have no way to capture it. That's checkmate, Lelouch!"

"What if I do this?"

Suzaku watched curiously as Lelouch reached out towards the pieces, his expression contorting into rage as his opponent casually plucked the White King off the board and held it in front of his face, examining it for imperfections.

"Wha–What?" he stammered, watching the other boy wipe a dirt mark off the side of the piece. "You can't do that!"

"Why not?" he asked, although he had clearly already anticipated the answer he would receive. For all of his chess knowledge, he sounded extremely curious.

"Because it's cheating!"

"What if it wasn't cheating?" he questioned, slowly turning his head to face Suzaku. "What if the normal rules of chess didn't apply? What would happen then?"

Suzaku glared at him. "But it's just a game!"

"And if it wasn't?"

He opened his mouth to reply, but something stopped him. Deciding to humour his impossibly confusing friend, he furrowed his brows and looked at the board once more. It seemed fairly even on both sides piece-wise, but Black had the impossible disadvantage of having no enemy King to attack. After almost a minute of thinking – through which Lelouch sat in silence and with closed eyes – he leant forward and moved the White Queen to an empty tile near his own King.

"If you move here, then you'd win by checkmating me."

Lelouch grinned, taking him by surprise. "That's right, Suzaku. I'd win!"

Dropping the White Queen haphazardly onto the board, he immediately reached for the Black King. A wicked gleam surfaced in his eyes as he pulled his arm back and launched the piece directly at Lelouch, who could do nothing to move out of the projectile's path. His eyes widened as it struck him in the exact centre of his forehead with deadly precision and fell towards the ground below.

Lelouch scowled. He hated bruises.

Suzaku, on the other hand, was looking exceedingly pleased with himself. "Ha! Now I'm the same as you!"

"What if I left my King on the board and you had me checkmated?" Lelouch asked, the scowl gradually fading from his face. "Would you still have taken yours off?"

A frown worked its way onto Suzaku's face; it was almost impossible to predict when Lelouch would completely change his mood. It was almost as if he had two separate personalities at times: the arrogant and abrasive ex-royal, along with the calm and calculative strategist sitting before him. He was never quite sure which of the two was the real Lelouch, either. Although he vacillated seemingly at random between them, Suzaku had noticed that he rarely acted like a child when Nunnally wasn't present.

It was as if he had unwillingly matured beyond his years, yet was still trying futilely to grasp the childhood he should have had.

If nothing else, he seemed determined to protect his sister from what him and – to a lesser degree – Suzaku had gone though, regularly sugar-coating anything he felt could tear away at her innocence when she asked him to explain it to her. Suzaku wasn't sure how effective it was, but he found himself following suit more and more over time.

They were his best friends. He would do anything for them.

"No. There's no point doing that. I'd have won, anyway."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow and placed his King two squares away from Suzaku's. "What if I put it back on right here?"

"You can't just do things like that!"

Lelouch's eyes narrowed, staring off into the distance in deep thought. "I have to know how to, or I'll never win."

Suzaku's expression softened.

"Chess is a two-dimensional game," he continued, slipping into a philosophical tone which didn't seem to suit a child his age, yet somehow fit Lelouch Vi Britannia perfectly. "The players are what makes the game three-dimensional."

"What are you saying?" Suzaku was once again perplexed by his friend's insight; he had only learnt the meaning of 'dimensional a few days ago himself.

"I'm saying that when there's no King for you to kill, then the only way to win is to kill your own."

Any response Suzaku intended to offer was cut off by a low rumbling sound in the distance. Their eyes met. There could only be one reason they were hearing that sound.

It was Britannia.

Suzaku was the first to clamber down the trunk of the tree, Lelouch in hot – albeit still horrendously slow – pursuit. He reached the hill at the back of Kururugi Shrine a few seconds later, scrambling up it and reaching the top by the time Lelouch had made it even half-way.

"Lelouch?" he called, not seeing the boy in his peripheral vision. He spun around and realised that he hadn't made it up yet. "Hurry up!"

"I don't think I can pull myself up!"

Suzaku groaned and extended a hand towards his friend. Their fingers met in midair and entwined, giving him enough leverage to pull the boy up. They stood there for a moment – Lelouch with his hands on his knees – trying to catch their breath. In unison, they remembered what had drawn their attention and spun around to face it.

The land was peaceful all the way from Kururugi Shrine to Mount Fuji, the sun's rays bathing it in a tranquil glow. It was a hideous contrast to reality. The sky from where they stood to the mountain was besieged by thousands of Britannian airships, like a swarm of angry wasps gathered around their nest.

"They're here!"

"Go and get our bags. I'll find Nunnally. " Lelouch was the first to start running, although he was overtaken almost immediately by Suzaku skidding down the hill past him.

Suzaku had already vaulted up through the branches of the tree and retrieved both of their bags by the time Lelouch had reached the door. The sound of it being thrown open violently echoed across the courtyard as he raced back towards the house, finding it still swinging when he made it there. Their haste was probably somewhat unnecessary, but more than anything, Lelouch always _had_ to be sure that Nunnally was safe. He caught up to him in Nunnally's bedroom.

"Onii-sama?" Lelouch's shoulders visibly sagged in relief at the sound of her voice. She was lying on the bed and had evidently just woken up. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, there's nothing wrong," he responded after a moment, the lie burning yet another grotesque mark on his conscience. He ignored it. He didn't need a conscience, anyway. "You just need to stay here for a while. Can you do that for me?"

The young girl nodded somewhat hesitantly. "What about Suzaku? Where's Suzaku?"

Lelouch moved to take the girl's shaking hands, but pulled back at the last moment, deciding instead to grip her shoulder supportively. Since the death of their mother, she had developed an uncanny ability to decipher even the most tightly guarded emotions just by holding the person's hand.

He turned his head to see Suzaku standing in the doorway holding both bags. An unspoken agreement was made between the two of them and Suzaku nodded, leaving him alone with Nunnally.

A few minutes later, a tense, but no longer panicked Lelouch joined him in one of the other rooms. He was handed his backpack by Suzaku as he sat down, fishing through it and removing a thick manuscript which had been bound with twine across the horizontal and vertical axes. He placed it on a low, marble table between them and reached back in to withdraw a box of matches from the bottom of the bag.

A pointed look from Lelouch prompted Suzaku to follow suit, opening his own bag and taking out a small box made from pine. He placed it on the table next to Lelouch's manuscript and opened one of its three components, withdrawing a glass vial filled with a thick, red liquid.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's safe?"

"No! I just took it out of the crate," he snapped. While they had slowed down to a degree, the tension was still extremely high.

"It looks like blood."

Suzaku looked at it for a moment. "Yeah, I guess it does a bit."

Lelouch reached out and took the vial out of his hand, careful not to knock the stopper off the end. He lifted it up to his eyelevel, shaking it slightly and tilting his head to one side. Carefully, he removed the stopper and sniffed the liquid. The smell was so intense that he immediately reeled backwards and resealed it.

"What is it?"

"There's definitely a lot of blood in there," he explained. "It must have been synthesised from someone's blood."

"It must have been what?"

Lelouch groaned. The Imperial family had been very particular about having a large vocabulary, but the Kururugi's evidently hadn't found it to be a necessity. "It means that it was made from someone's blood."

Suzaku wrinkled his nose in disgust. "That's yuck!"

Lelouch's face lit up with a diabolical grin. "You have to drink it!"

"Do not!"

"How else could you take it?" he asked, dropping the grin completely.

"It's injected," Suzaku replied, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I've got them in here somewhere…"

Lelouch grimaced slightly and re-examined the vial. "Injected? That would hurt; there's a fair bit in here."

His expression lighting up for a moment, Suzaku pulled out a piece of paper, folded into quarters. "Ah, here! Instructions!"

His outburst prompted a blank stare from Lelouch. "It came with…instructions?"

"How else would we know how to use it?"

"That's not what I meant," he responded, shaking his head. "Why would something like this come with instructions? It doesn't seem like the kind of thing Britannia would want just anyone being able to use."

Suzaku shrugged. "Maybe it was for a stupid noble or something."

"I guess. What do they say?"

He took a moment to reread the contents. "According to this, once it's been injected, you have exactly one minute to specify which memories you want erased and which you want created."

Lelouch furrowed his brow. "So I just say it?"

"That's basically everything," Suzaku replied with a nod.

A frown quickly worked its way onto Lelouch's face. "_Basically_ everything? We can't do anything half-heartedly, Suzaku; this is too important for that. I need _all_ of the information."

He quickly checked the piece of paper. "That _was_ everything."

"Good. How do I restore your memories?"

Suzaku carefully shut the lid on one compartment, turning the box around and opening another. Inside was a plastic vial, filled almost to the brim with a blue liquid. The lid was of the screw-on variety, rather than the rubber stopper used on the other vial. In all likelihood, it had been designed for durability.

"This one will give me my memories back."

Lelouch placed the first vial on the table, frowning once more and lifting up the document. "Why didn't you tell me that when we were writing this?"

"I didn't know until I read these," Suzaku insisted, dropping the instruction sheet onto the table. "All I heard was my father talking about a memory-altering drug being shipped from Britannia to Tōkyō. There were a few other details, but they didn't mention _that_."

"We were lucky, then," Lelouch concluded. "Are there any dangers?"

He checked the instructions once more. "Well…There's a long time before it can be safely removed."

"How long?"

"Nine years."

Lelouch groaned and glanced at the document in front of him. "That makes things difficult, but we don't have time to rewrite it. Your father is passing the new policies tomorrow; we have to act tonight."

He gulped. "I know."

"Nine years should be all right. It will take at least that long for you to get into the position we need you in."

Suzaku's eyes took on a faraway look. "It will be hard to become number one, especially with Laroque's performance in the Special Trainees."

"Special Trainees?" Lelouch asked in confusion. He had heard nothing about any 'Special Trainees.'

"It's a new program for children to be trained from a young age specifically to join the Knights of Round. It's so intense that only the most patriotic parents send their children there; at least, that's what father told me last night." He explained. "There are only two of them at the moment, Laroque and a girl a couple of years younger than him."

Lelouch massaged his temples. "Potential enemies."

"Potential allies," Suzaku corrected, surprising Lelouch with his perspective.

"True. You should join, in that case; a few years of extra training wouldn't hurt." Indeed, to Lelouch, it sounded like an excellent idea.

"Don't they have some sort of test?"

"Why are you asking me? I only found out about them a minute ago!" Lelouch responded, frustrated that he had once again not been given all of the information available. He forcibly calmed himself and continued. "They might have a lie-detector test to test your allegiance like the Knights of Round, but that's what the memory drug is for."

"I know."

He picked up the manuscript and waved it in front of Suzaku's face. "Have you even read this?"

"Of course I have! Don't be stupid, Lelouch!" he snapped, swatting it out of Lelouch's hand and back onto the table. "Have you?"

Lelouch glared at him as if it was an insult to his intelligence to even suggest that he might not have. "I know every word of it; I'm the one who wrote it!"

Suzaku leapt to the side of the table and grabbed him by the collar, growling in anger. "I put almost as much work into that as you and you know it!"

"That doesn't matter. Are you sure we didn't make any mistakes?"

Suzaku reluctantly let him go, watching as he brushed the imaginary dirt off his clothes and adjusted his collar. "I couldn't find any."

Lelouch opened his mouth to respond, but was distracted momentarily by the clock in the corner of the room. "Your father will be here in fifteen minutes. Are you ready for this, Suzaku?"

"I'm…I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

He nodded and pulled himself to his feet, surveying the luxurious furnishings of Kururugi Shrine. It was a far cry from the Imperial Family's concept of luxury, but he had changed since being exiled; it was enough for him. Regardless, there wouldn't be a Kururugi Shrine in a few days.

Reaching back down to his bag, he unzipped another pouch and withdrew a cloth bundle. He placed it carefully on the table next to both the manuscript and the wooden box and unfolded it slowly to reveal a dagger inside a leather sheath.

Both boys stared at it solemnly – almost reverently – each loath to be the first one to lift it into their hands. A bright golden metal made up the handle of the six-inch blade, although there was nothing so vibrant about its intended use.

Suzaku eventually reached out to grasp the brown, leather handle; the heaviness of the blade almost sickening him enough to drop it. It was his duty to be the first to hold it; it was _his_ blade. He would not unsheathe it yet, however; some things were too horrible to deal with all at once.

"This is…" he began, the fingers holding the dagger trembling uncontrollably and almost causing him to drop it. "This is the blade I have to kill my father with…"

Lelouch placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's the only way–"

"–I know it's the only way to stop the bloodshed!" Suzaku snapped. "I was the one who suggested it, wasn't I?"

"Suzaku…we're running out of time." Lelouch's eyes were unfocussed as he spoke.

He sighed and hunched his shoulders in resignation. "You're right. I'll fill the syringe."

Lelouch schooled his features into a perfectly emotionless expression, watching Suzaku slowly pocket the knife and reach a shaking hand towards the vial.

He hesitated to call his stay at Kururugi Shrine 'enjoyable,' as such. More often than not, he had been on the receiving end of both verbal and physical reprimands from Suzaku for his distinctly royal attitude, yet that had not necessarily been a bad thing. Lelouch's technical mind preferred to think of it as 'useful.'

To accomplish his goals, he would need to be able to manipulate the Japanese people. Whether his manipulations would be against their will, solely to organise them, or a combination of both; Lelouch was unconcerned. Kururugi Shrine had given him a better understanding of Japan. Without intimate knowledge of everything from social customs to attitudes, he would never be taken seriously. Attempting to start a rebellion in Britannia itself would likely be easier than doing so in a foreign country, regardless of how desperate they were for one.

He may have found the Kururugis' hospitality more useful to his own goals than enjoyable, but there was no denying the reality of the situation; he had formed an extremely close bond with the young boy in front of him, who had just lifted a syringe out of the box's third compartment and was beginning to carefully fill it with the red liquid. It was a relationship that would be all but lost to him for the better part of a decade, but in the end it would be the one he would treasure the most.

From the moment they met, the deaths of Lelouch Vi Britannia and Kururugi Suzaku were sealed.

"I'm done."

Lelouch nodded, placing the blue vial back inside the box and, in turn, the box inside his bag. His expression was hard. "In less than a week, Japan will become Area 11. If we lose, it will remain that way forever. That is why we can't afford to lose."

"It's not impossible," Suzaku replied, his eyes firmly fixed on the blood red liquid as he tapped the syringe to remove a few air bubbles. "There's a barrier between us and them, but I _will_ remove that boundary one day."

"You won't be alone," Lelouch reassured him. He gripped Suzaku's shoulder firmly. "One day we'll destroy Britannia. One day we'll restore Area 11 to Japan."

He transferred the syringe into his left hand slipped it between his index and middle fingers, ensuring that it was secure; they didn't have another vial to use if he dropped it. He slowly reached for the manuscript, removing the twine within a few seconds before firmly tying it around his bicep as a makeshift tourniquet.

Suzaku nodded resolutely, carefully handing the syringe to Lelouch. "Good luck, Lelouch. You'll need it."

"The same for you."

A hollow smile passed across his lips. "I won't really have much of a choice, will I?"

"I guess not."

Suzaku's eyes began to glaze over as Lelouch injected the substance into his arm, staring directly at him without so much as blinking.

"You will forget everything about the knowledge contained in the manuscript beside us, as well as your desire to fight against Britannia," Lelouch intoned with painstaking clarity, motioning towards the stack of papers on the table. He took a deep breath and continued; this was the most crucial part. "You will create a series of memories leading you to believe that it would be best for Japan if you killed your father tonight – in order to prevent a rebellion – and joined the Knights of Round with the goal of becoming Knight of One. They will convince you that the only way to achieve peace is by working with the system."

Suzaku's eyes flickered slightly, registering the modification.

Lelouch reached his hand towards Suzaku's pocket and plucked out the dagger, unsheathing it and cutting the twine, before slotting it back in exactly how he had found it. He glanced at the clock for the second time in under a minute; he still had thirty seconds left.

'_Suzaku will probably be unconscious for a while when he's finished, but I should get rid of this anyway,'_ Lelouch thought, taking a match from the table and striking it against the side of the box. _'There's no going back, now.'_

With the slightest of glances, Lelouch touched the burning match to the corner of the document. The clock showed that there was only fifteen seconds before the drug wore off. He watched in an almost solemn silence as the eerie yellow flames devoured months of hard work, leaving only ash in their wake.

The final words to be engulfed by the fire were those of the title – two words which would forever change the face of the world.

_Zero Requiem_

* * *

**2019 a.t.b.**

Suzaku's eyes snapped open and he leapt to his feet. He was confused – more confused than he had ever been – and he needed answers. There was only one person who could give him those answers.

"Lelouch!"

"Do you remember?" For the most part, Lelouch seemed unconcerned, although there was a slight glint in his eyes. It could have been relief, satisfaction, or a number of other things; but Suzaku was unconcerned at that point.

"Y–Yes," he stuttered, forcing the small amount of bile back down his throat. "It was us. We planned it. We planned it all?"

It wasn't a true question, but Lelouch nodded anyway.

As if a trigger had been pulled, Suzaku's expression turned feral, spinning Lelouch around and slamming him into the wall by the collar of his Zero costume. "No more lies, Lelouch! Did you use Geass on Euphy?"

"Yes."

"To massacre the Japanese?" he ground out, applying more pressure.

"I gave the order."

Suzaku moved his head closer, so that the tips of their noses were touching. He moved his hand to grip Lelouch's throat. "Why?"

"Geass isn't constant," Lelouch replied. He made no attempt to remove the hand threatening to suffocate him. "Mine grew in strength the day the Special Administrative Zone of Japan was to be established. I lost the power to repress it at will. It was my failure."

Suzaku's grip relaxed slightly, but his voice lost none of its venom. "That's a pathetic excuse, Lelouch."

"It's the truth."

"I know it is," Suzaku replied wearily. He had always held himself responsible – or at least partly so – for Euphemia's death; if he had caught Zero sooner, she would never have died. The drug had shown him that he was to blame. _'I created Zero. Lelouch and I created that monster.'_

His eyes narrowed once again. "What about Shirley's death?"

"I could not control Rolo. That was my failure," Lelouch answered. "The outcome, however, was not."

Suzaku barely heard him speak, the psychological pressure literally forcing him to his knees. Lelouch rubbed his own neck and pulled Suzaku to his feet. "It should pass."

"It's not that." Suzaku shook his head. "Why aren't I against this? Why don't I hate myself for what we've done?"

Lelouch bent down to his eyelevel. "We used the drug to manipulate your memories so that your values would be directly influenced. It is imperative that you maintain your resolve from nine years ago."

Suzaku shivered, but nodded nonetheless. "Did you discover anything about the drug? It was never mentioned in the Knights of Round or the regular military."

"The _Selective Memory Modifier_ – as it was named – was created by Bartley Asprius under the orders of Charles Zi Britannia," Lelouch replied. "He wanted to find out if the abilities of a Geass could be synthesised and used by another person. When the project was pronounced successful, he stopped providing samples from his own and sold the spare prototypes to high-paying nobles. Naturally, he removed any mention of Geass."

Suzaku stared at him. "So I've been under a Geass?"

"More than one," Lelouch reminded him. "I placed a Geass on you to live, because I needed you alive for our plan. I had thought about removing it using Jeremiah's Geass Canceller, but the drug had an extra limitation in that it couldn't be removed for nine years. If my hunch was right about it being derived from Charles' Geass, doing so could have killed you."

"Why didn't I ever hear about him using the same process with other Geass powers? Surely he would be collecting as many different samples as he could with access to that technology?" Suzaku asked. "Why didn't he use yours to control you?"

Lelouch thought about his answer for a moment. "He did collect other samples. The use of Laroque's Geass allowed Britannia to reach the Third Age of Knightmare Frame development before regular production even reached the Second Age. From what I understand about the process, it would never have been as powerful as it was when Laroque used it."

"But why didn't he collect yours? It would have been extremely useful to him."

Lelouch shrugged. "The process is long and complicated. It's one thing for him to use his Geass on the Student Council, but more people would notice if I went missing for months."

Suzaku leant heavily against the wall. "How can everything be so different, but not destroy our plan? The tiniest little thing could have made it useless, but all of these changes haven't changed anything?"

"We never knew about Geass when we wrote it, which is why you entered the Knights of Round for training and to attempt to convert any allies – particularly Laroque – to our cause once the drug was released," Lelouch answered. He walked to the back of the theatre and peeled a black film off one of the windows, looking out at the night sky. "The power of Geass sped up our plan by years, but Charles, Schneizel and Zero remained the same. We made sure to adjust for anything that had a realistic possibility of occurring, but we were fortunate that the changes weren't overly disruptive."

"You were right about Schneizel," Suzaku commented, lifting his head to stare at the various worn-out cables above the stage. "Did it work?"

"Yes, it did."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Will Schneizel revert to his previous strategy? Your performance as Zero tonight would have made him suspicious."

"Schneizel can reliably defeat anybody in the world other than me," Lelouch replied. He turned around to face Suzaku once again. "He believes me to be dead, so I deliberately used a Geass that was not my own in order to maintain that illusion. It's almost certain that he has identified another Geass as existing, but he will not be concerned enough about it to revert to the initial conditions."

"Where did you find another Geass user? You wiped out the Directorate yourself."

He made his way back over to Suzaku, stopping a few feet in front of him.

"Shirley."

"What?" Suzaku shouted incredulously. "She's dead, Lelouch, and it was your fault!"

"C.C. gave Shirley a Geass shortly after the Narita battle," he replied with a slight shiver; it still unnerved him how close his friend had come to death. He'd had many people he knew die during the war, but he could never be desensitised to a friend's death. Even Tamaki, who had been something of a nuisance to him, had struck a chord in him when he died. It had been enough to bring him and Shirley out of hiding for his funeral.

Tears were freely streaming down Suzaku's cheeks. He grabbed Lelouch by the shoulders and looked up at him desperately. "Then she used the Geass to survive? She's alive? Tell me, Lelouch! Is she alive?"

He nodded. "Yes. She is delivering a message to Kallen right now, so she shouldn't run into any problems."

"So that's why you didn't come to her funeral. You knew she was alive." Suzaku wiped the stray tears from his face, but not the smile.

"No, not quite," he admitted. "I found out on the way there. She dragged me into an alley to inform me that she was alive. It almost gave me a heart attack."

Suzaku laughed. "Naturally. Even the Tianzi could probably kidnap you with ease."

The glare he received almost gave _him_ a heart attack.

"Shirley's geass, Absolute Animation, allows her to instantly create an artificial body of any description – so long as it is human – and control it as if it were an extension of her own body," Lelouch continued, ignoring Suzaku's barb. "When active, she loses vision in the eye that contains her Geass, which is then replaced by the corresponding vision from her double."

"Then the one who died–"

"–Was one of Shirley's doubles," Lelouch finished. "She replaced herself with one before entering the station. According to her, the knowledge of how to use her Geass and its abilities was instinctive. I experienced much the same thing myself."

"That's how you survived, isn't it?" Suzaku asked carefully. "I didn't want to ask before. I was afraid you had sacrificed someone for the sake of our plan. You could easily have had ordered someone to disguise themselves as you with your Geass."

Lelouch chose to ignore the final comment; he had done far worse than that in his life. He supposed Suzaku had reason to suspect it would happen, for that particular method was a last resort in their original plan. "The doubles are also permanent, lasting even beyond disengagement of the Geass, as well as the 'death' of the bodies."

"Couldn't she use them as a remote army, then? They would be perfect soldiers," Suzaku asked. The gears in his head were already beginning to turn as he received new information.

Lelouch shook his head. "No. One of the limitations on her Geass is that her doubles can only deliberately interact with other objects in relatively minor ways, such as sitting on a chair or leaning on your shoulder; to use them to attack is beyond its capacity. Unintentional interactions – such as being stabbed, tapped, or bumped into – don't have the same limitations."

Suzaku nodded, allowing Lelouch to continue.

"It would also be painful for her to consistently use them for suicide attacks; all pain the doubles experience is felt by her between thirty seconds and one minute after disengaging the Geass, albeit considerably dampened. A bullet to the heart, for example, would only feel like a kick in the chest to her when she releases the Geass."

"So we have Shirley's Geass to work with as well," Suzaku muttered to himself. "What about Schneizel? How did he escape? It didn't happen the way we had planned."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow, the corner of his lips tilting up in a smirk. "Even after all this, you still call him that. Why?"

"It's easier that way," he replied with a shrug.

Lelouch ignored him. "I used my Geass on Nina to have her rescue him during the commotion after my death."

"Wouldn't Schneizel be suspicious of Nina? She allied with you in the war and provided you with a means to stop the FLEIJA he fired; she has no motive to help him."

Lelouch shook his head. "The crowd was far too thick to see what was happening, and I made sure to use my Geass on every camera operator in the area to stop recording a few minutes after my death. I also had the security thoroughly frisk everyone at the entrances to remove any cameras."

"I see. There were no cameras in the venue, so he couldn't have known who did the rescuing," Suzaku mumbled. "But what happened to Nina?"

"Schneizel has captured her," Lelouch replied, clenching his fists. "I have discovered that she is being held in a research facility two hours from the Tokyo Settlement. He has been forcing her to research further applications of nuclear weaponry by subjecting her to torture if she refuses."

"If Schneizel is going to resort to torture, why couldn't he just interrogate her to force a confession that she was the one who rescued him?" Suzaku asked.

He shook his head. "People under the effects of my Geass don't remember the commands I give."

Suzaku had the decency to look slightly sheepish. "I forgot. There's a lot of new information for me to take in."

"I know."

His tone darkened. "We can't let her stay there, though! We have to rescue her!"

"No," Lelouch replied bluntly. "We have more important things to do."

Suzaku gripped him by the collar and slammed him back against the wall. "How could you say that, Lelouch? This is our _friend_ we're talking about! Would you really just leave her to the mercies of someone like Schneizel?"

"Nina is someone who desperately seeks atonement," Lelouch replied. Suzaku slowly released him and took a step backwards. "There are more immediate things we must attend to. Allowing her to make this sacrifice is a mercy that, as friends, we owe her."

His words struck a chord in Suzaku's mind, forcing his heartbeat to speed up noticeably. Since murdering his father, he had dedicated his entire life to atonement. He had even betrayed his entire country to do so. _'If there's anything I can do to help her, even if it's only one thing, I'll do it.'_

"She was able to put aside my crimes and work with me to create a better world. She is a lot like you in that respect."

"It wasn't really me," he replied. _'I haven't been myself for nine years…'_

Lelouch shook his head. "No, the drug can only artificially instil values. How you react to them is entirely your own nature."

It wasn't much, but it was enough to reassure Suzaku that he hadn't been a mindless pawn for almost a decade. The thought of that possibility was enough to make him shudder.

He pushed those thoughts out of his head and changed the subject. "Schneizel is operating out of Romania. We located an organisation registered as _Toromo Institute_ there."

"How did you find that out?"

"An anonymous tip…" Suzaku trailed off. "It was you, wasn't it?"

Lelouch smirked, but refused to give a direct answer. "We should leave soon; Kanon is still in the car."

"What are you planning on doing with him, anyway?" Suzaku asked curiously. Lelouch's Geass made torture unnecessary, but keeping a highly-ranked military officer captive during a search would make things difficult. "You know, you could have just left him there."

Lelouch seemed indecisive for a moment, a phenomenon which seemed impossible to Suzaku. "I will take him back to my apartment for the meantime and keep him unconscious for a week."

"Why unconscious?"

"He can't be allowed to wake up," Lelouch replied. "If he does, he could die."

He didn't ask for clarification; Lelouch could be trusted to know what he was doing. As it was, his mind was so inundated with information that he couldn't bring himself to care either way.

Lelouch left the theatre in silence, pausing in the main doorway. He stared first at the car, then at the night sky. It had taken him hours of driving – often retracing his steps – and a concentration that would be beyond most people, but he had managed to cover his tracks perfectly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue baseball cap, fitting it firmly on top of his head.

"When you said you were going to destroy Britannia, you already had a plan," Suzaku mused, moving to stand next to him.

"There have been changes," he admitted. "But this is still the only chance we have."

Suzaku turned the Zero mask over in his hands. There was no voice-masker; this was the original. He slowly moved it to his face, allowing the mechanism to attach itself.

He held out his hand to Lelouch and they shook.

"For Zero Requiem."

* * *

**A/N: *Whistles* _Most_ (but not all) of the secrets are out in the open now! I've been waiting to write this chapter since I originally came up with the idea for this fic. =)**

**Congratulations to smartaLECs, who was the first person (as far as I know) to pick up on the clue to baseball-cap-guy's identity way, way, WAY back in Phase 1. For anybody who missed it, go back and read the description of his clothing in the scene where he talks to Nina in Phase 1. If you need another clue, try re-watching R2, Episode 3 from 21:00 on. ;D**

***Mumble*Conspirizaku*Mumble***

* * *

**What I would like to hear about if you decide to review:**

**1) I ditched both the 'FLASHBACK' tags and the italics. Is what I've done this time better or worse? =S**

**2) Answers to the poll below, if you care enough. =P**

**3) Did you figure out the clue from Phase 1? XD  
**

**Theories:**

**4) What's going on with Schneizel?**

**5) Who is Laroque? How will he impact on Lelouch and Suzaku's plan?**

**6) What _is_ Lelouch and Suzaku's plan?  
**

* * *

**A/N: Well it looks like over the holidays I have successfully forgotten what school is like. I'm quite busy at the moment, so it looks like I might take an extra few days for each chapter. I won't be holding myself to a schedule anymore, at any rate; I've got about 5 assignments to do this weekend and I've just spent all Saturday working on fanfiction. That and it's destroying the sleeping patterns I just made (It's 3:10 AM and I'm about to fall asleep). =(**

**The Poll:**

**My plans for Phases 10 and 11 can occur in any order (it doesn't really matter to the plot), so I figured I'd give all of you readers the choice of which one you want to be written as Phase 10 and released first. I'm usually against putting polls in fics (such as 'vote for pairing' polls) to increase reviews, but it really doesn't matter to me which one comes first. I might as well give you the option *Shrugs***

**The options are:**

**Current Phase 10: Includes Jeremiah (ORENJI-KUN! XD)**

**Current Phase 11: Includes C.C. (FINALLY, She's been missing for half of the fic!)**

**I'll write the chapter my readers pick if there are a lot of votes all up, but if there's only two or three I'll probably just go with a gut instinct. Either way, they'll both get written eventually. =)**

**I won't hold myself to this (because of school), but Phase 10 will probably be out sometime between the 22nd and 25th of February.**

**Cheers,**

**Lord Bear  
**


	10. Phase 10

**Three Days Later**

**The Headquarters of The Order of the Black Knights**

The phone rang once, twice, three times; but still Suzaku received no answer. It was the fourth call in a row that had gone unanswered, despite the fact that he was using Zero's personal phone, in Zero's personal office and with Zero's personal caller ID.

It wasn't the first time he had done it, either. While being completely loyal to their cause, the man had developed a certain tendency to avoid immediately responding to any sort of communication unless it was transmitted on the emergency frequency: a sort of minor power play which, although at times may be important to the man's survival, was exceedingly frustrating to Suzaku. Regardless, there was still a two hour window in which to make his request, so use of the emergency frequency, while it may make things quicker, was not the best choice at present.

He removed the handset from his ear after the twelfth ring and pressed the disconnect button with a slightly unnecessary amount of force. He tapped his fingers on the top of the desk. Four calls was far too long for Li Xingke to be holding out on him; the longest he had ever waited was slightly over thirty seconds, which roughly equated to the third or fourth ring on the second call. It was possible that his illness was keeping him from the phone. Suzaku had suspected more than once that he had been busy receiving his treatment from Tianzi – the girl having insisted upon learning to wrap his bandages herself – during the missed phone calls, but saw admitting to it as a sign of weakness. Either way, it only made things more difficult for Suzaku.

The dull thud of knuckles against wood drew him out of his contemplation. He called out a response and the door slid open, admitting Ōgi. The man was a shadow of his former self. His skin was pale, his eyelids drooped and the ends of his jacket were frayed from constant fidgeting. A red headband hung loosely around his neck; it had been found at the base of their building the night Kallen had 'died.'

Suzaku had shed almost five minutes' worth of tears for his friend – even if he only really got to know her as 'Zero' – before he collected himself enough to call Lelouch, who had promptly informed him that Shirley had seen an opportunity to fake Kallen's death and taken it. According to Lelouch, faking Kallen's death had not been part of his revised plan; instead, Shirley had become so familiar with it over the past year that he had allowed her a small level of freedom to act alone, so long as her additions were undeniably beneficial to their plan. It couldn't compare to Suzaku's authority in their partnership, but Lelouch had commented that he was extremely glad he had given it to her; separating Kallen from the Black Knights would help them avoid a number of scenarios he had painstakingly developed responses to.

"The materials you requested have arrived," Ōgi began. His voice was shaky and occasionally faded out completely "They are with transports two and three in the first garage,"

Suzaku furrowed his brow. "Thank you, Ōgi. How is Villetta?"

He tried to smile, but the pain behind it was clearly visible.

"I need you to take a break from duty. You have been extremely stressed recently and I have concerns about your health." Suzaku's tone was firm, but not harsh; he didn't want to upset the man even further.

"I'm not the only one. Everybody cared about her."

"That's commendable," Suzaku acknowledged with a tilt of the head, forcefully ensuring that he kept any traces of self-disgust out of his expression. As much as he wanted to tell him the truth and alleviate his pain, it would almost certainly destroy their plan: Ōgi had proven himself a well-meaning liability in the past. "But you need to relax. They care about you too and people are worried."

Indeed, earlier that day, Villetta had come to him with concerns that Ōgi may attempt to commit suicide. They discussed a number of different strategies to minimise the likelihood of that scenario, eventually deciding to use emotional blackmail on the basis that it would be unfair to his son and wife if he did. Suzaku was absolutely against the idea of using a child in that way at first, but eventually Villetta had been able to convince him that it was perfectly legitimate, not possessing the usual sinister characteristics that commonly accompany blackmail. It was nothing more than an undeniable truth, in the end: his family needed him and therefore he could not die, especially of his own doing.

Some people would disagree with his methods, likely including his former self. He had changed significantly during his involvement in the execution of Lelouch Vi Britannia and during his time as Zero, but had not affected his core values.

After all, Kururugi Suzaku had committed worse crimes than saving a man's life.

"What are you trying to say, Zero? That I'm not–" Ōgi was cut off by the sound of a phone ringing.

"Listen, Ōgi; you've been working far too hard lately," he insisted. "Take some time off to relax. I'm sure Kaguya wouldn't mind picking up some of your workload and it would make Nunnally's day if you could find her something she can do to be of use. I have to take this call, now. If you need to, you can speak to me later."

Ōgi nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him. Suzaku lifted the phone to his ear and accepted the call.

"This is Zero."

"My apologies, Zero," the tense voice of Li Xingke replied. Suzaku raised an eyebrow; something bad must have happened to warrant those words. "A few hours ago, we received warning that Schneizel had located our chief military hangar. I was forced to order a thirty-minute complete evacuation of our facilities."

"A thirty-minute evacuation?" he repeated incredulously. "You've lost all of your resources and most of your knightmare frames, then?"

"No. It was fortunate that we were already preparing to relocate in two days; only a few frames and basic living supplies had to be loaded onto the carrier submarines before we could depart. We avoided Schneizel's blockade by less than twenty minutes."

"Submarines? When did you get submarines? How did you get them?" Suzaku was beyond shocked. The Chinese Resistance Force had been crippled by Schneizel mere weeks before the Black Knights' most recent battle with Britannia. For them to gain a set of submarines and enough knightmares to keep some stored away at any point was an almost inconceivable accomplishment.

"They were donated by a Britannian engineer who worked directly under Odysseus," Li Xingke answered. "The Emperor had requested a full set of submarines and two aerial carriers for the Britannian navy, which were scheduled to be completed in a month from today. She was heading up the project, so she was able to deliberately overstate the estimated completion date and made contact with us less than a week ago about stealing them. The workers were more than happy to take a full day off when their superior congratulated them for their work, so we took our chance then."

"That's great news, but…" He hesitated slightly. "What happened to the woman?"

"She decided to join us fully after we captured the vehicles. It was clear that she was involved; they would have executed her within days."

Suzaku let out a sigh of relief, although he was careful to mask it from the handset. "That's a good result; an engineer of that quality will be a useful ally."

"Indeed."

"I need to ask a favour of you," he began quickly. The situation in China – or Area 68 as it was now officially named – left him with little time to spare. "I need you to deliver two knightmare frames to agents of mine in Romania. We have almost none, ourselves."

Li Xingke was silent for a moment. "…I'm afraid that is impossible."

"Impossible?" Suzaku growled through clenched teeth. "This is extremely important to our plans."

"Yes, impossible. Schneizel is currently in China and will be relentlessly pursuing our resistance group over the next couple of weeks. If he catches us, we will have to fight our way out; I cannot put China and Tianzi at risk to deliver a couple of knightmares to you."

He took a few seconds to come up with another strategy. They hadn't anticipated any problems in China, but Lelouch had prepared a backup plan regardless. It wasn't a perfect plan, however, so there was always the possibility that the first one could be salvaged to some extent. "Do you have any means by which to transport knightmares that we can use? One of the submarines would be useful."

"My apologies, Zero; every vehicle we have is at full capacity. We're in full military mode."

"That's alright. We're all doing our best," he replied. They'd just have to go with the alternative plan. "And good luck. You'll need it; Schneizel is ruthless."

"I know. Thank you."

Suzaku disconnected the phone and leant back in his chair with a sigh, placing the handset on the table. While it was frustrating that their original strategy had been made impossible, some part of him was glad that knightmares weren't an option: he had always hated violence. In any other situation his concern would have overridden these emotions completely, but he was working with Lelouch. They had known each other since they were children; he knew enough about his friend to say that there was no chance he could lose, even without the knightmare frames.

He picked the phone up from the table and began dialling Lelouch's number.

* * *

**Area 36**

**Bucharest Settlement**

Airports frustrated Lelouch. There were only so many situations possible in which his Geass ensured that he would have little to no resistance, but getting through Customs wasn't one of them. If it weren't for the recent security upgrades Odysseus had commissioned he would have been able to walk straight through the detectors and use it if he was questioned, but the guards in the public areas of the facility now wore visors with x-ray vision, allowing them to perform random scans on anyone at all.

He had never wanted to travel by aeroplane, having become much more accustomed to knightmare frame travel, but it was unavoidable: an unidentified knightmare leaving Japan would draw unnecessary attention and a ship would, even with modern advancements, invariably take far too long to reach Romania.

To any regular passenger, the security may not have been a problem. To Lelouch Vi Britannia and Shirley Fenette, they most definitely were. Before Leaving Japan, they had each concealed a variety of weapons on their person: two pistols and a vial of refrain for Lelouch; a slightly larger – yet still concealable – firearm for Shirley.

Endangerment of one's self is endangerment of the plan. This was something Lelouch knew, yet failed to apply on numerous occasions under pressure. Just because he had ignored it in the past didn't mean that he didn't believe it, however; when possible, he took every precaution possible to ensure his continued survival. The guns were testament to that: they would be able to receive weaponry from Li Xingke in a day or so, but the precious seconds before that could happen were each another chance to be found out and assassinated or arrested.

He supposed that Suzaku could continue Zero Requiem if he died: any tasks which could only fall to him had already been completed. It would make things exceedingly difficult, however. Suzaku may have developed arguably the third greatest strategic mind in the political world, but he wasn't on the level of Schneizel or himself. There was also the fact that, despite their time together in the Knights of Round, Suzaku was less likely to be able to convince Laroque to ally with them. Laroque was essential to their plans: if his services couldn't be secured, it would take them years to build up a resistance force strong enough to overthrow Schneizel and Odysseus. Lelouch's Geass, at least, gave them another option if he refused to work for them willingly.

Such a thing was never in their original plans. Indeed, many amendments had to be made by Lelouch over the last few years. Schneizel's military capacities had far exceeded their expectations: the addition of the European Union to his army had almost doubled its size. The Black Knights – for they had been named that even in Zero Requiem itself – were both stronger and weaker than he had hoped. Although it may have been enough before, it was no longer possible to fight Schneizel with a group of predominantly untrained pilots. The only truly talented pilot it had produced was Kallen; Tōdō had joined from the Japan Liberation Front; and Cornelia, Gino and Anya hailed from the Britannian Military. It boasted an impressive group of soldiers, but almost none had developed within its own ranks.

He shifted in his seat. He disliked the hard, blue plastic of the chair he had been given. For the last year, they had been living well: Geass was extremely useful. For the most part he had avoided using its power in selfish manners, focussing on obvious criminals to relieve of their money at Shirley's insistence. When there were none to be seen, he occasionally made day trips to large companies for stock information, but usually he allowed himself to 'encourage' part-time employees in large stores to give him considerable discounts. Even if he didn't have one of the most recognisable faces in the world, he had more important things to do than waste time on a job.

To his left sat Shirley, smiling despite the circumstances. She had absolute faith in him, something he valued immensely. The interrogator would return in a moment but neither paid any attention to the mirror directly in front of them, even knowing that the person standing behind it was studying them intently.

The door groaned as it opened, re-admitting the man who had brought them into the room. He was a fairly unremarkable man overall. Perhaps the best word which could describe him would be 'average.' Everything about him was average: average height, average weight, and average intelligence from what they had seen. The pace at which he filled out forms would barely make a snail jealous, frustrating Lelouch to no end. They had been sitting in the same room for over an hour and the only time his visor had been removed was to fill in paperwork, resting his cheek on his palm in such a way that made eye-contact impossible. All it would take was one glance to subject the man to Geass, but he still hadn't received one.

Unfortunately for the two, the visor was once again firmly fixed over the man's eyes. Lelouch didn't know why he still wore it, even after they had both been repeatedly subjected to it. Perhaps he didn't realise that there was no reason to leave it on, in which case 'lower than average' would be a more accurate assessment of his intelligence.

The man placed two passports and four plastic packages – three guns and a refrain vial – on the table in front of them. He took a seat and stared them in the eyes one after another.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cardemonde," he began. Lelouch repressed the urge to chuckle; maybe he would buy Rivalz a drink one day to apologise for using his name. "Bringing guns into Area 36 is against the law and could mean twenty-five years in prison. Did you know that?"

Lelouch ignored the question. "Who are you?"

"Who are _you_?" the man replied, not removing his visor to identify himself as Lelouch had expected. "There are some serious problems with your passports."

"What problems?" It was an unnecessary question. He knew exactly what the problems were.

The man reached over and opened both passports to the identification pages, clearly showing two photos of a blue-haired Britannian. The collar of a male Ashford Academy uniform was barely visible at the bottom, but could not be identified just from that. "I don't know who this is, but he isn't either of you. I don't know who you are, but you can't _both_ be 'Rivalz Cardemonde.' What are your real names?"

It was anything but subtle, yet being obviously untruthful was the easiest way to get through Britannian Customs with weaponry. It wasn't a new routine; Lelouch and Shirley had done it more than once since he faked his death. To obtain weapons permits, they needed to use Geass on an officer to have him or her create them. To use Geass on an officer, they had to be in a private room where the visors would come off. To end up in a private room, they had to be lying about something. The identical 'Rivalz Cardemonde' passports were perfect: neither of them looked anything like him and fortunately Britannian law stated that they need only be checked after flights.

Even better was the fact that they couldn't possibly be traced. Rivalz would never find out.

A snicker to Lelouch's left broke him out of his thoughts. Shirley had laughed. He didn't really blame her, he supposed: they had never been questioned on the passports before, as he usually managed to Geass them within fifteen minutes of the interrogation starting. Both felt somewhat cheated if they managed to escape without ever having their blatant identity fraud pointed out.

"You think this is a joke, do you?" he growled, leaning forward until his nose was only a few inches away from Shirley's. It made sense for him to be extremely serious about the job – protecting his country – but Lelouch was completely disinterested in following Britannian law. He pulled off his visor and stared into her––

'_Now!'_ Lelouch shouted in his head, his hand already reaching up to remove the two contacts from his eyes. "Follow my orders!"

The man's eyes flickered for a moment. "Of course."

He sighed in relief. For a while it had looked like giving the command would be next to impossible, but luck had been on their side. Even if it hadn't, they could probably have knocked the visor off themselves, but that was a last resort.

"Create weapons permits for both of us, lasting the maximum amount of time possible," Lelouch began. They really only needed them to last them a week or two, but it could never hurt to have valid ones if they ever needed to return to Romania for any reason. "Also, ensure that we can enter the Bucharest Settlement with all of our belongings, including those which were confiscated. Remove any record that we were ever here."

"Yes, of course!"

* * *

**Fifteen Minutes Later**

It was the first time Lelouch had set foot in Romania, although if he wasn't already aware, it would have been difficult to tell by sight alone what country he was in. Directly in front of him was the Britannian Concession. Directly behind him was the airport and behind that was a drop of at least fifty metres down to the ghetto below. It was almost a mirror of Japan, at least in terms of Britannian policy, although his research had turned out a few subtle differences; overall, it appeared somewhat less restrictive than the harsh Area 11 legislation.

The location of the airport piqued his interest. In every city he had been to, the airport – or airports if they were larger than average – were all situated well beyond the ghettoes, where land was more plentiful. The sole publically-accessible airport in Area 36 had been built in the Concession itself, albeit along the outer edge.

The only logical explanation for this was that they didn't have enough land outside the ghettoes. If he wasn't sure that the Toromo Institute was operating at full capacity by this point, that fact alone would have convinced him. Considering what he knew, it was almost certain that the land on which the airport would normally have been built was dedicated to Toromo storage, testing grounds or other facilities. He supposed it might have been possible to build one in a neighbouring town or use a pre-existing one, but it was also true that the extra travel time would be considered unacceptable by Britannian standards.

A click drew his attention; Shirley had wandered over to the edge of the Concession and was peering over it, taking photo after photo with her digital camera. His chest tightened and his heart began to beat wildly as she leaned further and further over the edge––

"Shirley!" he shouted, racing over towards her as fast as his meagre athleticism would allow. "Not again. That was too far!"

Shirley turned to face him, tilting the brim of her straw hat up to meet his concerned gaze. She pouted. "I was just taking a few photos. Isn't the view lovely?"

He wrapped her in a hug – more out of habit than anything else – shivering slightly at the contact. The blue baseball cap that had served him so well as a subtle disguise was covering his eyes. "You can't do that, Shirley…"

"Do what?" she asked softly. Her eyes were closed and her smile content, enjoying his embrace.

He released her and stepped away. "You were too close."

"Oh, too close to the edge…" She averted her gaze, staring at a point on the ground somewhere between the two. "It's because I'm important…because I'm necessary, isn't it?"

"No," he replied shortly, clenching a fist. "I just don't–"

Shirley looked up at him sympathetically. She knew what he was trying to say.

"–I don't want to lose anything else."

He felt an arm wrap around his chest, then another one.

"Trust me a little more, Lulu."

He knew that he was being overcautious. When Shirley had fallen the first time, she had been in a panicked, arguably suicidal state. This time there was none of that; leaning over the edge to take photos was an innocent act. There was even a barrier to prevent falling and probably a suicide net below. To the best of Lelouch's knowledge, all of the Britannian Concessions save for Japan and China had them; in those two Areas where resistance was high, suicide was encouraged for 'Elevens' and 'Eights' (the colloquial term for 'Sixty-Eights' in that Area) who were opposed to Britannian rule.

He knew she wouldn't fall. She was stronger now. She was faster now. She had better balance now. If it had been Kallen, Rivalz, Nina or even _Tamaki_ he wouldn't have worried. Seeing Shirley almost kill herself – inadvertently or not – was a memory he would never be able to let go of. Nor would he want to: one mistake he had made on a battlefield, far away from Ashford Academy, had set in motion the chain of events which would have killed his friend if it wasn't for C.C.'s interference.

Everything he did would need to be perfect.

It was well into the early hours of the morning when they made it to their hotel room. The attendant at the counter, a young man who didn't seem to look comfortable in a suit, was so tired that Lelouch was able to secure a room upgrade for a quarter of the cost. He had wanted to use Geass, but Shirley had insisted that he limit his use of it: she was as paranoid about him losing control of it than she was of her own evolving.

Five minutes later they had made their way up to their room and were emptying the contents of their pockets onto small tables on either side of the King-sized bed. Lelouch paused for a moment as he removed two mobile phones from his pocket, identical in all but colour. The black one was, fittingly, an untraceable satellite phone which used two of the Black Knights orbiting satellites; they had been commissioned at the height of the Black Knights' power and Schneizel had so far made no attempt to remove or hijack them. The second phone, a white version of the same model, was fitted with a Romanian sim card for local calls. He would be receiving a call from Li Xingke in the morning regarding the exchange.

He took his shoes off and lay down on top of the covers. Shirley was busy sorting out the contents of her bag, having collected a number of mementos aboard the flight. A chuckle almost escaped his lips: he hadn't noticed her relieving the Customs officer of his visor. Now that he thought about it, that particular device could be extremely useful in future, especially in Laroque's hands.

She removed the final objects from her bag – a set of phones identical to Lelouch's – and followed suit in lying on top of the bed. After a few moments of silence, she turned to face him and opened her mouth to speak––

A phone rang.

Lelouch leapt off the bed and snatched the black phone. It couldn't have been the white one; the only person who knew its number was Shirley and she was lying next to him. He looked at the caller ID and answered it, moving the handset to his ear.

"Suzaku."

"Lelouch," he replied hesitantly. "It's not going to work."

There was silence for a moment.

"What's not going to work?" Lelouch asked slowly, various alternative plans for different scenarios from the Toromo infiltration to Zero Requiem itself already filtering rapidly through his head.

"Li Xingke can't deliver the frames you requested."

He relaxed slightly. This particular situation was one he had four or five different plans for. "Why? I was unaware this would be an issue with the current state of the Chinese Resistance Force."

"They're being pursued heavily by Schneizel. His troops raided their headquarters yesterday; they had barely enough time to escape."

"What are their losses? Do they have an alternative premises secured?" He wasn't particularly worried about their group – they had no chance at victory, anyway – but they made a good diversion.

"No losses, save for the building they were using," Suzaku replied with slightly more enthusiasm. "In fact, they gained two aerial carriers, a set of submarines and a top engineer in the last few days."

Lelouch sighed. "That's good, I suppose. They might survive longer."

"Don't be like that, Lelouch," Suzaku admonished him. "They're our allies; we can hope more than that for them."

He didn't even flinch. "They can't win. You know that."

"I know they can't, but they're doing their best, just like us."

Lelouch leant against the wall and stared out the window, his eyebrows furrowed. Shirley looked at him questioningly, but he waved her off: he could tell her when he finished the call.

"I have two spare frames here I can lend you, if you can think of a way to get them there. That might take some time, though. Too long, most likely."

"We do have one way to transport them out of Japan," Lelouch replied automatically. He had spent hours analysing the pros and cons of such an option. "But it's not worth the risk."

"Oh, that. You're right, it probably isn't. Will any of the other plans work?"

"Without the knightmare frames, we won't be able to destroy Toromo," he responded slowly. "The majority of the facility is currently dedicated to one project, so security will be low in the main area."

"Can you still get inside the secure zone?"

"No. Originally I had planned to create a hole in the perimeter with the knightmares, make my way inside and use Geass to take control. Everybody working on the project lives within the secure zone, so there's no traffic in and out; I won't be able to use Geass to get inside."

A sigh could be heard across the line. "It doesn't matter, I suppose. They could have rebuilt it anyway."

"They could," he agreed. "Is there anything else I need to know?"

"No. I can handle things at my end," Suzaku confirmed. He paused for a moment. "Good luck, Lelouch."

"Thank you."

He disconnected the line and slipped the phone into his pocket. It was true that they could still complete their primary objective, but accomplishing the secondary one would have been a huge advantage. There were still a few kinks in the plan – he had only gained access to the information on Toromo's defences recently – so he would have to make some adjustments that night.

"Was that Suzaku, Lulu?"

He sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Yes, it was. We can't get the knightmares from Li Xingke."

"Don't worry, we have other plans," she replied with a smile. "Which will we use: Plan B or C?"

"Plan B, I think. Neither is perfect yet, but I'll be able to finish B tonight."

Without offering a reply, she stood and moved towards their luggage. They weren't intending it as a holiday, but a small bag each was necessary to hold everything they would need. Rummaging through its contents, she managed to free a white nightgown and made her way to the bathroom. She turned back to face him, standing in the doorway.

"I'm first in the shower, Lulu," she teased. Lelouch would generally insist on showering first, so it had become something of a game for them. She smiled. "Do your best!"

The smile he returned wasn't quite full. They both knew what he would eventually have to do to her.

She would have been perfect for him…

…But she wasn't Kallen.

* * *

**The Next Morning**

Area 36 – formerly Romania – was in far worse condition than he had expected. Four months before the European Union was revealed to have been officially absorbed by the Holy Britannian Empire, a war had been declared between Romania and the Ukraine. Romania had reacted first, sending a large army of knightmare frames within their borders, headed for Kyiv. They never made it, however: the opposing Ukrainian army headed them off in Chernivtsi with vastly superior frames and without evacuation. The battle was over in under an hour, devastating the large city. A little under half of the Romanian forces were able to escape, thankful that they weren't pursued.

Far from their expectations of a simultaneously shameful and sympathetic welcome, the sight that greeted them upon their return was enough to chill even the toughest soldier to the bone. Bucharest had been literally wiped off the face of the Earth. All that remained was a series of deep craters spanning the entirety of where the city once stood.

Lelouch clenched his teeth. It was irrefutable that Schneizel had manufactured the war and given at least a few FLEIJA warheads to the Ukraine with the intention of levelling Bucharest. The war had ended days later, both parties decommissioning all weaponry, including knightmare frames.

The Bucharest Settlement had been built in its place in the immediate aftermath of Odysseus' official claiming of the entirety of Europe. The new city was far smaller than its predecessor, extending less than ten kilometres outwards in any direction. That wasn't the only thing that was changed, however; it now resembled the Tokyo Settlement before the destruction of Shinjuku. At the very centre was an unusually large Concession, the remaining four or five kilometres occupied by deliberately decrepit buildings – a ghetto.

The ghetto itself contained less than fifty thousand people, according to the information Lelouch had sourced. Those numbers didn't seem to be increasing either: the approximate ten-kilometre barrier was legally enforced at the discretion of Britannia. In contrast, the Concession was statistically home to thirty thousand Britannians, although in reality less than ten thousand lived there. The rest were accommodated within 'The Cube.'

'The Cube' was an enormous Britannian facility almost twenty kilometres outside Bucharest, named for its outward appearance: an almost blindingly white structure in the shape of a perfect cube, spanning four kilometres in every direction.

It was a relatively new building, although with the fast-paced change the world was currently experiencing, one year could hardly be considered 'new' for a military structure. Regardless, its existence hadn't concerned the Black Knights: there had been several large structures built throughout Europe at the time in what they presumed were attempts at fortification against a potential invasion attempt by Emperor Lelouch. It had taken Lelouch multiple uses of his Geass to eventually discover 'Toromo Institute' buried within mountains of Romanian paperwork.

Knowledge of what was within The Cube was kept heavily confidential to the extent that beyond Odysseus and Schneizel, nobody seemed sure who even knew about it. This, of course, meant that Lelouch knew it inside out. The new Toromo Institute was a research and development facility – just as it always had been – and was responsible for creating the most recent Aerial Fortress Damocles, unbeknownst to the Black Knights until he had anonymously tipped them off. After Odysseus took the throne, Toromo had absorbed In Vogue and the Rosenberg Institute, although Rosenberg remained a separate entity within Toromo. Despite Lelouch's best efforts to ensure that all three would be destroyed after his death, they had somehow managed to survive, or else they had been recreated. The number of scientists involved in the project was approximately twenty thousand, all living full-time within The Cube to prevent information leaks and security weaknesses.

For that reason, The Cube remained in a state of constant lockdown; all supplies were delivered through a large underground suction pipe which transported items from within the Concession. Humans were unable to survive the pipe and all items were electronically inspected at the halfway point, so there was no chance of using a bomb to destroy it from the inside. Lelouch had planned to use the heavy weaponry of knightmare frames to break a hole in its side and use his Geass repeatedly to infiltrate and control it, but without Li Xingke's assistance it was impenetrable.

It may have been true that infiltrating The Cube was impossible at this time, but infiltrating the Rosenberg Institute wasn't. While it retained its original purpose, a second responsibility had been given to it: local security of The Cube. While it was possible to call in support from the Britannian Military at any time – or simply defend themselves using the technology they had created – Toromo had assigned them the task of dealing with any non-military intruders. For this reason, their facilities were attached to one side of The Cube, covering almost two hundred square metres, yet still completely dwarfed by it.

Fortunately, their target lay within Rosenberg and not Toromo.

Lelouch took his hand off the steering wheel and applied the handbrake. He groaned; Shirley was still glaring at him.

"What?" he asked irritably.

"You know what."

He did 'know what,' in fact: he had stolen the car they were driving from a Britannian civilian. He hadn't hurt the man, but had still used Geass on him; evidently Shirley thought that was bad enough.

He sighed. "Shirley, we have more important things to worry about than where I got the car from. There were no railway lines extending out this far; it was necessary."

"I know," she replied slowly, relaxing her shoulders. "I still don't like it, Lulu."

He leant across and gripped her shoulder supportively. "I don't like it either, but this is for the world."

As they climbed out of the car, Lelouch reflected that his last statement may have been somewhat misleading. It was true that he didn't like to steal from innocents, but it was also true that he didn't care either. His actions had directly caused the deaths of thousands of people; doubts about something as petty as stealing a car to accomplish a mission would do nothing but hold him back.

Despite everything she said, Lelouch knew that she felt the same. Before discovering his identity she had lived a fairly sheltered life at Ashford Academy. That knowledge had threatened to tear her world apart. It seemed that she was attempting to compensate for her decision to support him by taking such a strong stance on minor injustices; nobody could involve themselves in something like Zero Requiem without the absolute resolve to do anything that was necessary for their goals.

Rosenberg seemed empty as they approached its main entrance. It was fortunate for them that the facility's security division operated on a call-basis rather than constant surveillance or they would have had serious trouble reaching a location where Geass would be effective. He supposed that as the only way to penetrate The Cube was with knightmare frames, there would be enough time for them to mobilise before any serious damage could be done.

Two glass door slid open as they reached it, admitting them into a reception area with an overwhelmingly sterile feel to it. The three walls in front and to both sides of them were freshly painted in a white coat. In the centre of the room was a large, mahogany desk, at which was seated a man who more closely resembled an armed guard than a receptionist. The second they entered he leapt to his feet, reaching a hand behind his back and towards his pocket.

"Who are you? Show your faces!" he barked, glaring at each of them in turn.

Lelouch and Shirley ignored his request: there were cameras all over Rosenberg, so the baseball cap and straw hat they wore were paramount to concealing their identities.

"I said who are you?" he repeated savagely, pulling a pistol out of his pocket and pointing it at Shirley. "Show your face or I'll shoot her."

Lelouch tilted the rim of his cap up, meeting the man's eyes. There was no use wasting time with vermin like him. "Obey my commands."

The man's eyelids flickered as he fell under the influence of the Geass. For expendable people and those too dangerous to allow to live freely, it was command that suited his purposes perfectly in every situation. For those he simply wanted to control for a short amount of time, it was ineffective without Jeremiah at hand to cancel it.

"I wish to speak with Dominic Asprius. Take me to him."

The guard saluted and ushered them through a door at the back of the room. He led them through a series of narrow corridors which seemed to go on forever, strobe lighting reflecting eerily off the identically painted walls. Occasionally they would pass a door or turn at an intersection between two or more corridors, but for the most part there was nothing to indicate where they were within the building or how far they had walked.

Without warning, he stopped and faced his right. Lelouch and Shirley, not expecting the sudden pause, stumbled into him and almost lost their balance. The guard didn't seem to notice – nobody under a Geass would – and remained staring at the wall while reaching for his back pocket.

Lelouch studied the wall and saw the door immediately. It wasn't hidden, but he fully admitted that he would have missed it without a guide. There seemed to be no unusual texture and it was entirely painted in the same white which permeated the building. He supposed it was a trick of the eyes: after spending more than ten minutes within the labyrinth that was Rosenberg, your eyes became so accustomed to the colour that you wouldn't notice the change in texture unless you knew where to look.

The guard pulled out a grey security card and handed it to him. "This is Asprius' office."

He took the card. "I plan on removing something from this facility. Where is the best place to load it into my car without arousing suspicion when I transport it from this office?"

"Loading Bay C," the guard replied instantly. It was a safe assumption that a good deal of equipment had been smuggled out through Loading Bay C during his tenure.

Lelouch took a set of keys out of his pocket and handed them to the guard. "My car is parked in the employees' car park. It's the one next to the fire hydrant. Park it in Loading Bay C and prepare it to leave at a moment's notice, if necessary. Leave the keys in the ignition. When you finish that, ensure that our path remains free of obstruction and that all security footage is deleted after we leave."

"Of course."

Lelouch and Shirley looked at each other as the guard walked off. No words were exchanged, but he could tell that she was silently thanking him for not ordering the man to kill himself. He'd seen their faces, but the memory loss from Geass would have taken care of that problem. Lelouch could spare his life, if only for the sake of Shirley's conscience.

The door gave a soft beep and swung open as he moved the card in front of it, lacking an external swipe pad. A fat man sitting at one of the many desks in the room swung around instantly, fumbling for a weapon of some sort among scattered papers.

Lelouch refused to take any chances. "Obey my commands!"

"Yes, My Lord!"

The fat man's posture relaxed noticeably and Lelouch was able to get a better look at him. While his appearance shared a great many things with his older brother, such as his ample girth, he was in many ways completely different. Bartley dressed as a high-level member of Britannian society, whereas Dominic wore shorts and a singlet. Bartley had a shaved head; Dominic had long brown hair which reached past his shoulders. Incidentally, they both wore identical monocles over their right eyes.

Lelouch moved a chair from near the door to the centre of the room. "Sit and answer my questions. Are you Dominic Asprius?"

Dominic took a seat. "Yes."

"What is your official position?"

"I am head of the Rosenberg Institute," he replied immediately, motioning towards a name badge pinned to his breast pocket. "I am also in charge of completing Code-R."

Lelouch's eyebrows narrowed at the mention of the project, although it hardly surprised him that the name was unchanged. Something was bothering him, however: he had never even heard of Dominic Asprius until six months ago. "Why were you chosen for this position?"

"My brother and I apprenticed under the best scientist in Britannia," he responded. Even under the effects of Geass, there was a smug tone in his voice. "When we completed them, Bartley was sent to work for Clovis La Britannia and I served Guinevere Su Britannia. When he died, Lord Schneizel made me a good offer."

Lelouch almost averted his eyes in disgust: the greed was clearly visible in the man's eyes and he was almost salivating at the thought. "Where is C.C.?"

"Inside The Cube."

Cursing inwardly, Lelouch prepared another question. "Are you able to retrieve her at any time?"

Dominic nodded.

"Bring her here now," Lelouch ordered. "Do not draw attention to yourself."

"Yes, My Lord!"

The fat man scurried towards a door on the far side of the room and disappeared through it after typing a complex code into the keypad on its right. Lelouch turned to Shirley and tilted his head in acknowledgement: everything was proceeding to plan. It had been a gamble to continue without an assured way to penetrate The Cube, but it had been well worth it. He walked over to the desk and began to sort through the papers.

Less than five minutes later, Dominic returned. Trailing slightly behind him was a handcuffed, gagged and extremely groggy, but very much alive, C.C.

"C.C.?" Shirley asked hesitantly, stepping forward but restraining herself from wrapping the other girl in a hug.

C.C.'s eyelids flickered, but she didn't acknowledge their presence or Shirley's words. Lelouch glared at Dominic. "What is wrong with her?"

"Nothing," the man replied. "She was heavily sedated. It will take her a day or so to regain full awareness."

Shirley moved to assist C.C. as she wobbled on her feet, but Lelouch kept his focus fixed on the man in front of him. "What other projects have Rosenberg completed in the past year?"

"A year ago we removed a Geass from Lord Schneizel and a different Geass from His Majesty the Emperor."

'_Even after removing the Geass, he doesn't know about Schneizel,'_ Lelouch mused. "Have you done the same for anybody else?"

"No. The progress is extremely complicated without Bartley's original plans for the Geass Canceller. It's completely different for each person, so we've only been able to do it twice."

Lelouch produced a small hard drive and two cables from his coat pocket. "Download the contents of every computer in Rosenberg and Toromo onto this. It will all fit."

"Le-Lelouch?"

He spun round to see C.C. opening her eyes slightly at the sound of his voice. Immediately, he moved to help Shirley hold the girl upright. "Can you hear me, C.C.?"

"I can stand," she insisted, pushing on both of them. They stepped away willingly, but remained at a distance where they could catch her if she fell. She stumbled forward slightly, but managed to regain her balance. "What took you so long?"

Lelouch groaned. "We're the ones who rescued _you_, remember?"

"That's okay," she replied groggily. "You can just buy me some pizza to make up for it."

"Wha–"

"–It's been almost a year since I've had any."

He massaged his temples in frustration. "I've seen you take a bullet to the head. You're a witch; you'll be fine."

She glared at him, but otherwise said nothing.

"Lulu, we should go…"

"Shirley's right, C.C.," he agreed. "Our flight leaves in two hours. If we stay longer than that, Britannia will find out we've been here and lock the city down."

Shirley tried the handle without waiting for him to hand the card to her and the door swung open; it must only have locked from the outside. She led C.C. through the door and motioned for Lelouch to hurry. He followed her after retrieving the hard drive, but stopped in the doorway.

"One last thing," he began, turning around and looking at Dominic.

"Die."

* * *

**Later That Night**

**Area 11**

**Tokyo Settlement**

The flight back passed without serious issue, save for the usual passport routine. The only notable differences were the weird looks C.C. gave them when the Customs officer read their names as 'Mr. Cardemonde,' 'Mrs. Cardemonde' and 'Mrs. Cardemonde.' Shirley had burst into laughter after the third impossible question the bewildered C.C. was asked.

Lelouch made a few final notes in a small book, before putting it aside. Shirley wandered into the room a few seconds later, carrying the last few boxes of pizza. C.C. had rarely regained consciousness since they retrieved her, sleeping in the car on the way to the airport, on the plane, on the car back to Lelouch and Shirley's apartment and now curled up in the bed.

She had showed signs of waking in the past half an hour, however, so Lelouch had immediately ordered more pizza than she could possibly eat. Even though he had evaded death and rescued her from years as a subject of experimentation, it was entirely likely that she would completely refuse to even speak to him without her preferred bribe.

He watched Shirley stack the four boxes on top of the already precariously perched pile with a faint tinge of amusement; if C.C. decided she was more interested in the pizza than them – an almost certainty – and decided to ignore them until she finished every piece, his plan could potentially backfire on him.

With that thought in mind, he walked across to the table and returned to his seat with a box. He removed a slice and offered the box to Shirley. "Want one?"

She smiled and took one, biting into it as she sat down on his right. A guilty expression crossed her face as she finished the mouthful. "But Lulu, aren't these for C.C.?"

"We have to eat too, you know," he replied blandly, taking another bite. "Besides, she's a witch; she can just make her own pizza if she wants more."

Shirley's guilty expression increased threefold, her eyes staring past Lelouch and towards the bed. He spun around to be met with the last thing he wanted to see: two yellow eyes glaring at him intensely.

"Pizza?" he offered hopelessly, placing the box at his feet in surrender.

She pushed the covers away and climbed out of bed shakily. Her glare remained firmly in place as she made her way over and retrieved the box, returning to the bed and hungrily digging in. Lelouch and Shirley watched first in amusement, then in disgust and finally in absolute horror as she made her way through all but one of the twelve boxes in just over half an hour.

"C.C…" Shirley began timidly. "Don't you think you've had enough?"

Evidently, that had been the wrong thing to say. C.C. turned her back to them and sat cross-legged on the bed, the final box resting in her lap. Lelouch groaned and allowed her to finish it in silence, before drawing her attention.

"C.C., we need to–"

"–What took you so long?" she cut in, licking her fingers clean as though she was completely disinterested.

"You asked that before," he pointed out curiously. "What do you mean? You couldn't possibly have known I was alive."

"You're right, I didn't. If I did, they would never have captured me."

"Then how–"

"–Shirley," she continued bluntly, as though she was irritated that he had interrupted her. "I gave her a Geass. The only way you could both be alive is if she used her Geass to help you survive. In that case you could have had me released at any time. I was there for almost a year."

"It took almost that long to track you down. It was obvious that Schneizel had taken you prisoner, but he has hundreds of facilities around the world; I only found out that Rosenberg was still operating a few months ago."

She dropped the empty pizza box onto the floor, picking up a bottle of soft drink and the Cheese-kun which had come with the order. "Where have you been, then? Not in one of the Areas, I assume; Schneizel would have located you if you'd stayed in Japan."

"Australia. I…" he hesitated. "I inherited a house there."

C.C. was in the midst of taking a sip and almost choked on the drink. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Was it from somebody you killed?"

Lelouch remained silent.

"Lelouch," she began reproachfully. "Saying you 'inherited' it is not the correct way to describe you killing Mao and taking his house."

He ignored her. "He had it built a fair distance from the city to cancel out the effects of his Geass; it was perfect for us to limit our interactions with people who might recognise us for a long period of time."

"It was such a nice house, too," Shirley added dreamily. "So immaculate and white…"

C.C.'s eyes narrowed. "You didn't sit around and relax all year, did you, Lelouch?"

"No," he replied adamantly. "What I've been doing can wait until later, but Shirley has received knightmare training."

"Knightmare training? Where would she get that from?"

"Their military," he replied. "Schneizel is waiting until the Black Knights are defeated before he divides his forces and conquers the country. It's small and not nearly enough to challenge Britannia, so their resources were better put to use by using my Geass to instruct a pair of expert pilots to teach Shirley."

"I see." C.C. stared, unfocussed, at the wall behind him for a moment. She turned to Shirley. "Are you any good?"

Shirley blushed. "Not really…Well, I–"

"–Have one of the best heavy artillery aims I've seen," Lelouch finished. "But she's not an irregular; she's not on Suzaku and Kallen's level."

"It's a pity we lost the Mordred."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "You know about that?"

She nodded. "Asprius told me what happened to the Black Knights."

"Ah. What experiments did he conduct using the data from you?" Lelouch asked, changing the topic. He picked his book and pen, preparing to jot down her answers.

Instead of answering, however, she merely glared at him and walked across the room to the far table. For a moment Lelouch thought that he had hit a nerve, but his assumptions were proved wrong when she returned with a cordless phone and menu, throwing both into his lap.

"It's your fault I was there," she reminded him. "Pizza first."

Lelouch groaned.

'…_Witch.'_

* * *

**A/N: Sorry that took so long. This is the first chapter I've written entirely while back at school, so I wanted to make sure I was fully adjusted to Year 12 before I continued writing. The following chapters should be significantly faster, though! =)  
**

**Oh and sorry to everyone who voted for Jeremiah; this chapter just fit much better into the time-line here than the other one did. Not to worry, though! Phase 11 WILL HAVE ORENJI~! ;D**

**Yes, there were a lot of LelouchxShirley hints here, but there will be _no_ harem in this fic! XD**

**For those who are wondering (and worrying) about the lack of Kallen...**

**...Phase 12. =P**

**Note: The Australia reference was because of two reasons: Britannia seemed disinterested by it and Mao's house was there. It wasn't because I'm Australian (Although were _are_ pretty awesome! XD).  
**

* * *

**What I would like to hear about if you decide to review:**

**1) What do you think of the way I've written C.C. and her interactions with Lelouch? I spent a fair bit of time going over canon scenes between them for reference, but I'm still concerned that she might have come out OOC. =S**

**2) What about Shirley? There hasn't been a lot of non-flashback Shirley development before now, so this is the first time we really get to see Shirley in a relaxed state. I tried to make her slightly more mature and having come to terms with Zero Requiem. This makes her a bit more collected than most of canon, so I tried to base most of her personality off Stages 1-10 and Turns 1-10 or so.**

**Theories _(There's almost nothing I love more in fanfiction than to hear people's guesses about where my story is headed! XD)_****:**

**3) What's going on with Schneizel and Odysseus? Surely it couldn't be that simple!**

**4) What are Lelouch and Suzaku planning?**

**5) Why is Laroque so important to their cause?  
**

* * *

**A/N: I'll try to have Phase 11 up within two weeks, but I probably won't get a chance to work on it until Friday, as I have about four assessments from Monday to Thursday. =(**

**Still, I'll write it as fast as I can without rushing; substituting quality for quantity is a big NO-NO! XD**

**Cheers,**

**Lord Bear**


	11. Phase 11

**Aerial Fortress Damocles**

The door to a private room aboard the Damocles slid shut as Schneizel passed through it, casually waving a hand over a sensor to engage the lock. It was a relief to be away from the battle stations for a change, although his presence was necessary to reassure the soldiers and other staff who were stationed aboard the aerial fortress. They had maintained a strict policy of ambiguity since the facility had been launched and many people were getting restless.

It was understandable that they would feel some degree of fear, he supposed. When Odysseus had risen to the throne and the Order of the Black Knights had been crushed, the public expected the Damocles to be placed on standby and many third-party Britannian war experts predicted that it would drop to fifty percent capacity or less. Instead, it had continued to operate at full capacity, researching more powerful technologies within the labs and producing more powerful knightmare frames within the onboard factories.

Regardless of the apparent military frenzy, Schneizel was unconcerned about a possible challenge. Their only serious adversaries were the Black Knights, who they had defeated at the height of their power and stripped completely bare. He knew the dangers of military cutbacks, however – better than his father, even. Since knightmares became common enough to supply whole armies with them, an attack could come from any direction with little to no warning; they no longer had the luxury of time in which to put together a defending force.

The appearance of a new Zero had the public on the edge of their seats and tension was higher than it had been since well before the Black Knights' defeat: the thought of that battle had been enough to scare most people, but the Britannian army seemed invincible to its people. Again, Schneizel was unconcerned. Lelouch was dead and it made no difference who this new 'Zero' was: if he could not create an army, then he was of no real threat.

He crossed the room and seated himself in a rich, leather armchair. "Any word?"

His companion sat up and placed a half empty cup of coffee on the table next to him. "From who?"

"Odysseus."

"No, nothing," he replied, offering a cup to Schneizel. "It is unlikely that he would attempt to contact us. "He is in the dark just as much as everyone else."

Schneizel accepted it, nodding his thanks. "I know, but…Do you think Lelouch knew?"

"You considered that too, did you?"

"That's no secret. We've discussed this before," he commented dully. "That shouldn't surprise you."

"It did not. We share very similar thought processes; it is unlikely that neither of us would consider that possibility."

"I think he did," Schneizel stated, looking pointedly at the man seated across from him. "If he wasn't aware, then he would have killed me when he first captured the Damocles. He wouldn't have bothered with that Geass. There is no doubt that he had a plan; he was merely unfortunate that Suzaku finally betrayed him when he did."

"Then the question is–"

"–Did he tell anybody else?" Schneizel finished.

"It would seem that he hasn't. If the Black Knights knew, they wouldn't have put everything into an attack upon Damocles. If they had tracked me, they would have known that killing you and destroying this facility at the cost of their fleet would not have been a victory for them."

He nodded. "I agree. Have you heard anything about Kanon's whereabouts?"

"I have not." The other man stood and turned away from him, placing a palm against the wall. "I am a ghost. I rarely speak to anybody other than yourself and Odysseus, but even he does not know my identity. You are my link to the world; what do you have to report?"

"Nothing. It has been a few days, so he has either been killed or interrogated," Schneizel replied apathetically. "I took measures long ago to prevent him leaking information. We can write him off as a casualty."

"Of course. Is the phone ready?"

Schneizel nodded. "Yes. Do you want to make the call?"

"No. You know what to say," his companion replied, turning to face him. "It is your purpose to know what to say."

* * *

**Elsewhere**

A young man sat at his mahogany desk, penning the final words onto the end of his letter. A small desk lamp illuminated the page enough to write on, although it wasn't enough to be an annoyance to him. It had become dark outside, but that didn't worry him; he welcomed it, leaving the curtains open and the window ajar. He preferred the dark at night, in any case. He had changed a lot since his military days, but the strict sleeping habits were drilled into him far too deeply to easily negated, even if he had any interest in preventing them.

He read over the letter slowly and sighed: it would end up it in the drawer with the other five. He saw her every few days as it was, but there was something about letters that made them seem far more powerful than a phone call or an email. It wasn't as if he was scared of confessing to her, either. She already knew his feelings and, after growing closer to her, he believed he knew hers too. The letters would have to wait, however: juggling budding professional lives and relationships was nothing to be sneezed at.

He placed the letter in the drawer and turned the light off, letting out a sigh. _'Even if I had the chance, am I ready to tell her about me?'_

The next few minutes drifted past as he sat in deep contemplation. He barely even noticed the phone ringing and his hand moving to answer it until a familiar voice spoke in his ear.

"It was difficult to track you down."

He froze immediately at the simple statement, paralysis giving way to desperation as he spun round and slammed the window shut. "Who is this?"

"I think you know already," the voice responded with an almost tangible smugness. "Don't you?"

"Odysseus?"

"Not quite."

"Schneizel, then," he spat, facial features hardening. "It was you all along."

Schneizel chuckled. "Of course. It doesn't take much to realise that. Fortunately for me, this world is as foolish as it has always been."

He slowly closed the curtains over and leant back in his chair. "Why now? You know I left the military."

"I want to know your allegiance, Laroque."

His breath caught in his throat. "Wha–What?"

"Will you fight?"

"Fight? Why would I…" he paused to fight down the shaking in his hand. "Why would you think that I would fight for you after the lengths I've gone to stay hidden?"

"Ahh…" Schneizel murmured, seeming far from surprised. "You're afraid."

Laroque stiffened.

"Your fighting instincts have dulled since you left the military. You're no better than a civilian, now."

"What if that's all I want to be?" he challenged. It was something he had thought about often in recent years.

"You're a killer, Laroque," Schneizel continued. "You've killed thousands with your frame. In one year, you single-handedly advanced the evolution of knightmares to the point where they could destroy thousands of people at once, not just hundreds.. You will never be like them."

"No…"

"You are a Britannian. It is time for you to return to us – to Britannia. Will you become that killer again?"

Laroque was silent for almost a minute, his face contorting from a pained expression to one of pure confidence and back again. He thought he had the answer, but could he really be who he wanted to be forever? His hands slid forward on the desk and caught the edge of the page sitting in the middle of his desk. Inwardly hissing in pain, he drew his hand back immediately and looked at the small cut on the tip of his index finger. A thin line of red was already trailing down its length and was collecting in one spot, waiting to fall. He smiled.

There were some things worth spilling blood for, after all.

"My answer is no, Schneizel," he finally declared, a soft smile on his face. "I won't become that person for you."

"I see." Schneizel lamented, although not with a strong undercurrent of anger. "You know what this means, then, right?"

"Yes."

"In gratitude for your services, I am bound by Britannian law to give you a reprieve of one year. On this day in a year's time, your execution squad will arrive. Do not try to run: they will find you no matter where you are."

Laroque nodded. "I understand."

"But one year is such a long time to give someone, especially a traitor like you," Schneizel added, his voice light and mocking. "It is a pity I can't have you killed now; perhaps I should impose another punishment…"

The smile fell from his face.

"That girl you are in love with…She will die too."

His body froze, heartbeat rising beyond the point where he could clearly feel it in his chest. "What?"

Schneizel was silent for a moment, allowing Laroque's rage to build. "One day before your execution she will also be executed and you will watch. This is punishment for defying me – for defying Britannia. Goodbye, Laroque."

"Wait!" he shouted into the phone frantically. "You can't! Wait!"

The line went dead.

For a few seconds there was nothing but darkness and silence in the room as his right hand gripped the phone and he allowed his rage to control him. Finally, he snapped.

"SCHNEIZEL!" he screamed, clenching his right hand into a fist. "You'll regret giving me a year! I'll bring you to your knees!"

Shavings of contorted metal fell between his fingers, the larger chunks hitting the ground audibly and the fine powder filtering through in silence. The final piece to hit the ground was the display – the words 'Private Number' slowly fading from sight.

It had been years since they had surfaced, but now they glowed brighter and more furiously than ever before.

The sigils of Geass.

* * *

**The Next Morning**

**Area 11**

**Tokyo Settlement**

He sat up and tilted his head from side to side, three loud cracks breaking the room's suffocating silence. It was still early and the room was encased in almost complete darkness, save for a portion of the far wall which was just barely illuminated through a gap in the curtains. The wall itself was covered in cheap, peeling wallpaper and was devoid of any furniture or permanent fixtures. A small alarm clock set on the floor and was plugged into a nearby electrical socket, showing that it was almost four in the morning. He couldn't be sure it was right – his clock was rarely exact – but it was generally safe to assume that it was within five or ten minutes of the real time.

The bed creaked as he stood up and carefully made his way across the room, testing the floor for anything dangerous before transferring his whole weight each step. From memory, the room had very little in the way of storage or furniture – nothing more than a bed on one side, kitchen cupboard on the other and the usual bathroom fixtures – so all of his belongings were haphazardly strewn along the ground; standing on a knife of some description would be less than pleasant.

Requiring very little sleep was both one of the great advantages and one of the great disadvantages of being a product of cybernetic experimentation, he mused, before walking into the bathroom door; he could have sworn he shut it before he went to sleep. It was convenient while on the run, allowing him to regain enough energy to keep running in brief naps, but when he was momentarily safe it served only to increase his boredom and drive him steadily insane: other than Suzaku, he hadn't spoken to someone he could consider an ally, let alone a friend, for over a year.

He turned the bathroom light on and entered the shower a few minutes later.

While the Black Knights were in power, they had made no effort to capture him and every effort to avoid him, despite his official allegiances to Lelouch Vi Britannia. It could only have been Suzaku behind their leniency and for that he was thankful: Britannian and Japanese civilians alike may have glared at him in disgust and more than once made pathetic attempts to assassinate him, but under Suzaku's watch in Japan he was safe. He still was unable to get a job, but, again, Suzaku would siphon a small amount of cash from the Black Knights' funds monthly to assist him, as per their agreement. For that time he was living relatively comfortably, both physically and mentally: he had enough money to rent a small apartment and live with a clear conscience, knowing Lelouch's plans had succeeded.

And then everything fell apart.

After a few months, Suzaku had contacted him out of the blue to inform him that Schneizel appeared to be gathering a large force in Eastern Europe. After almost fifteen minutes of heated arguing, Suzaku had finally put his foot down and told Jeremiah that he couldn't possibly join the Black Knights' to help fight: his experience and skill would be a huge boost, but it was impossible to recruit him without explaining Lelouch's deception. Jeremiah had expected Suzaku to erupt when he insisted that there was nothing left of that plan and that they couldn't afford to let it restrict them, but he went silent instead. He told him, in a quiet voice, that there had to be something more to Zero Requiem than either of them knew. That was all he said.

The money Suzaku was able to spare him slowed to a trickle within three weeks and had completely stopped by the end of the fourth. At first he had been able to live off what little he had been able to save, but that was never anything more than an extremely short-term option. He had abandoned his apartment at the first sign of a successful invasion by Schneizel, leaving the last two months' rent unpaid; after the Black Knights, he was almost certainly the next target.

From then on, he began to live in various hotel rooms, switching every week or so to make himself more difficult to track. It became more difficult when Schneizel gained full control over Japan, as hotels were quickly informed that he was not to be admitted entry under threat of serious charges. Still, he was able to find accommodation through bribery, although the charges were always at least five times higher and he was never allowed to stay for more than a few days. While the former criterion was a serious issue, the latter didn't inconvenience him: he knew he was being tracked, so he never stayed in one location for more than two or three days anyway, depending on the amount of danger he was in.

Money had always been an issue, but he nevertheless found ways around not having a reliable income. It had taken him a while, but he eventually realised that knocking out the Britannian soldiers sent after him and robbing them blind was an effective and guilt-free way to earn cash. Eventually, whoever was directly in charge of the operations to capture him began to realise what he was doing and the officers kept their distance, resorting to raiding his accommodations in groups to subdue him.

It couldn't be said that Jeremiah Gottwald lacked the capability to adapt to those, or indeed any, circumstances, however. With the large quantities of weaponry he had collected from his victims, it was an easy task to become a small-time player in what he knew to be the only major gang remaining in the Tokyo Settlement which dealt in illegal arms. It might have been tempting for him to actually sell his goods alongside them, but he had his eyes on a bigger prize: their collective treasury. On first contact, he slaughtered the entire group and bagged the contents of a safe worth more than enough to build a dozen knightmare frames.

It may have been cold, but Lelouch would have agreed with him: they needed to die.

The quality of his accommodation hadn't become better since that day, regardless of his sudden increase in wealth. Prices for him had jumped up to well over ten times the standard rate and the rooms he was offered were moved further and further away from the other rooms as managers became more paranoid. Still, he continued to pay and bore them no hard feelings: he was lucky to be offered anything at all.

His clock read almost ten past five when he finally stepped out of the shower, fumbling for the light switch for the main room. He dressed quickly, throwing on a loose pair of pants – his only pair of pants – and a shirt. He placed the few other things he owned into a small duffel bag on the ground in the centre of the room, before checking the clock; if their past operational patterns held true, he still had an hour or so before the Britannian troops arrived to arrest him.

There was a knock on the door.

Jeremiah froze, double-checking the clock out of the corner of his eye. It had only been fifteen minutes or so since he last checked, so it couldn't be them yet, surely.

'_Could it?'_

He bent down to lift a knife off the top of the bag and made his way over to the door. The scene which would greet him was far too easy to imagine: ten Britannian police officers armed with loaded rifles standing outside his room. It wasn't the first time he'd been in that situation, either; he may be close to invulnerable, but the new Britannian weaponry had proved capable of blowing holes in him with ease. Tightening his grip on the knife, he placed his left hand on the doorknob.

Another knock.

In one action he swung the door open and raised the knife to neck height.

"What the hell is that?" the man standing on his doorstep screamed. "I specifically told you that there were no weapons of any sort allowed in this building!"

Jeremiah sighed and lowered the knife, allowing the tension to seep away from his shoulders. He knew this man; it was the manager of the hotel. Not the owner, most likely, but one of the supervisors – one who was more than happy to let him fly under the radar for a heavy price.

Despite his brave words, the man was clearly just short of being petrified. A hand clutched at his chest, his breathing was forced and he had taken a step backwards to brace himself.

'_He's got guts, I'll give him that.'_

Jeremiah slipped his left hand into his pocket and leant against the doorjamb. "What is it?"

The man appeared to come to his senses and raised an arm up in a feeble attempt at a defensive pose. His movements were still shaky, but had become firmer than before as he fixed his gaze on the knife, flickering sideways every couple of seconds to send meaningful looks at Jeremiah.

Jeremiah remained silent for a moment, staring back at the man in challenge. A quick look back inside at the clock revealed he had been standing there for almost five minutes; the Britannians would be there soon. He sighed and dropped the knife to the floor, the corners of his lips tilting upwards at the satisfying sound of heavy steel hitting wooden floorboards.

"Is there something you need?"

Instead of responding, the man snapped his leg forward and kicked the knife out of reach. Breathing slightly easier, his eyes trailed along the floor beside Jeremiah and into the centre of the room, coming to rest on a small pile of weaponry which had been sitting on a hooded coat in the centre of the room.

"You need…" he began, staring at Jeremiah with as much composure as he could manage. "You need to get out."

"Is that all?"

The man nodded resolutely. "Yes, thank you."

* * *

**Room 277**

**Tokyo Settlement International Hotel  
**

"Tonight?" 

"Yes."

"Yes. That will be fine."

Lelouch set down the phone, leaning back in his chair and smiling slightly to himself. That conversation had gone much easier than he had expected, although the conclusion which had eventually been reached was never in doubt to him. It was almost as if…

He ran a hand through his hair and stared out the window of his temporary base of operations. It was early – perhaps as early as five in the morning – but the streets were quite densely populated with people none the less. There was some frost on the window, so he leaned forward and wiped a hole to see through with his arm. Lelouch enjoyed nice views, but on the thirtieth storey it was hard to decide whether he would have preferred something a little closer to the ground.

Ants. The people below him were little more than ants. He'd looked down on them in that way for so long that it was almost instinctual to him. Not just them, but the entire world. It wasn't what he wanted for himself, nor was it what he wanted for the world, but there was nothing he could do about it. If he planned to wage war on the world, he'd have to be cold, uncaring and heartless. So that was exactly what he would remain.

Before the year was out, war would come to the world once again.

A hand on his shoulder shook him out of his thoughts. He knew who it was immediately; even without being able to see her reflection in the window, it was easy for him to discern her touch.

"Lulu…"

He closed his eyes and leaned backwards into her chest, an expression of mild surprise coming over his face as he felt the soft texture of a towel against his bare back, rather than cotton. "What is it, Shirley?"

She wrapped her arms around him, her hand coming to rest on his chest. "Did you call him?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"He has agreed to a meeting," Lelouch stated simply.

"That was what you were expecting, wasn't it?"

He grunted in response.

Shirley raised an eyebrow. "Was there something else?"

"I'm not sure," Lelouch muttered, more to himself than to her. "He seemed unusually…eager."

"To set up a meeting?"

"Yes."

"What do you mean by 'unusually'?" she questioned curiously. "Have you spoken to him recently?"

Lelouch was silent for a moment. "No, but I didn't expect him to make it so easy for me. I expected him to go into the meeting tonight with the upper hand and force me to earn his cooperation. It's almost as if–"

"–He wanted to earn yours." Shirley cut him off.

He stared at her reflection in the glass for a moment; it wasn't like her to be so serious. "Exactly. The conditions must have changed. A few weeks ago he would never have been involved in our war on either side."

"Don't worry, Lulu," she assured him with a smile, leaning forward over him to massage his shoulders. "He'll join us. I know he will."

Lelouch nodded and stood. He walked over to a cupboard and slid the door open. "I have a package for you to deliver to Suzaku in half an hour. The meeting point is behind a small café two blocks from here."

"Is that…?"

"Yes. I didn't have a chance to give this to him earlier," he replied, withdrawing a large parcel wrapped in brown paper and depositing it on the bed.

"Lulu…" she began hesitantly, taking a step towards him and tightening her towel. "Does that mean you don't want me to come tonight?"

He looked away. "You don't know Laroque, Shirley."

"But–"

"–No!" he shouted, cutting her off and losing his composure for a moment. "You can't become Knight of One without the will to cause deaths – hundreds of deaths!"

"But, Lulu–"

"–You don't know him, Shirley! You've never met Laroque!"

Her eyes softened. "He's important, isn't he?"

"We can't win without him," Lelouch replied with a nod, all of the intensity draining out of his voice.

She wrapped her arms back around him. "That's not what I meant, Lulu…"

His shoulder muscles tightened for a moment at the contact, but slowly relaxed as she continued her massage. He closed his eyes. "You still can't come."

"That's okay, Lulu," she replied with a small smile. "Do your best."

They were silent for a moment, his chin resting on the top of her head and her hands massaging his shoulders from behind. He leaned forward into her embrace and moved his arms up to wrap around her back. Her towel was slightly damp and drops of warm water fell from her hair onto his chest, but he closed his eyes anyway, allowing himself a few moments of solace before making preparations for the night.

"Lulu?"

"Mmm?" He mumbled, but didn't otherwise move. His eyes remained closed and he kept his chin resting on the top of her head.

"Where's C.C.?"

* * *

**Tokyo Settlement**

Jeremiah shivered as the early morning winds whipped against his face, forcing him to reflexively pull the coat tighter around his body. Not that he really had any other choice, wind or no wind: the Britannian Police could be anywhere. It had been a long time since they had stopped wearing uniform to attempt arrests on him, preferring now to stake out his alleged location and the surrounding area when they got a lead on his location.

Anybody could be out to get him. At times he felt like the paranoia was a sure sign that he was going insane, but it was a fact of life for him. Even in the early morning, there were hundreds of people in central Tokyo. He supposed he didn't have a lot of choice when it came to accommodation – he had to take what he could get – but it would have been nice to live in a place where there weren't as many people around. Even then, it would be nothing more than a trade-off of actual security for perceived security: there may have been less people in a smaller community, but they always seemed to have a keen eye for outsiders.

No, the safest place for him to be was in the Tokyo Settlement itself. There was rarely such thing as personal space amongst crowds, but the people seemed to have tunnel-vision and rarely paid attention to those around them. All it took was a hooded coat and nobody could even tell he was Britannian, let alone Jeremiah Gottwald.

Except the Britannian Police. They were actively searching for him, so he had to be careful for them wherever he went. Across the road there was a man selling newspapers and an older man standing next to him reading one. The older man had a thick vest and a beanie, but did not seem otherwise suspicious.

A young boy brushed past him and his hand instinctively moved to his pocket. He slipped a hand inside and checked the contents.

A single note was missing.

He spun around and his eyes were drawn to the boy, calmly walking away from him as if he hadn't just picked his pockets. He took a step forward but stopped, grinding his teeth in frustration. There was no way to prove that the money had ever been his, so the most he could do was forcefully take it back. There was no way he could get the police involved without revealing his identity either.

The boy turned down a back alley and Jeremiah's eyes lit up. Away from the street he could easily get it back without causing a fuss or harming him. He would just…

He took another step towards the alley but stopped himself. His fighting style and voice was far too unique to even consider engaging for even a moment with the shadow of the Police looming over him. For all he knew, the boy could have been working with them to draw him out. If they were suspicious of him, confronting him in an alley was far less volatile than in a fairly crowded street.

Clenching his hand into a fist inside his pocket, he turned back around and continued the way he had come. He had plenty of money, but that didn't stop him hating being stolen from. Still, it was a small price to pay for potentially avoiding a trap, even though, in all likelihood, the only thing that had happened was that the kid had just become significantly wealthier.

The man in the beanie folded his newspaper and moved a hand to his ear, mumbling something under his breath.

Jeremiah looked back over his shoulder; the kid had already disappeared around the corner. If it was a Police sting, he was already under surveillance, so he was only endangering himself by staying out in the open. There was an open market up ahead, if he could just get there, then…

He turned his head to the side and looked across the road. A few shops down from the man selling newspapers was another alley, almost identical to the one the boy had disappeared down, save for a small bench which seemed out of place. A figure sat on one end, wearing a black coat with the hood up. It may have been paranoia, but even though he couldn't see the man's eyes, Jeremiah somehow knew that he was staring directly at him.

His speed increased as much as he felt was safe under the circumstances and he ducked into the market a few seconds later. He almost breathed a sigh of relief, but caught himself in time: he'd been in this situation far too many times to allow himself to become complacent while the danger was still present.

There were surprisingly many people in the market at that time of the morning, although he supposed it should have been expected. While there were very few customers, stall owners were just beginning the long process of setting up their equipment, merchandise and signage. Very few paid him any attention at all, being much more interested in their own affairs, but one or two seemed to perk up as he walked in their direction. Whether that was because they were Britannian agents or they were just happy to see a potential customer, he had no idea.

He sped up slightly, still not wanting to cause a fuss but feeling distinctly uncomfortable in crowds now that he had potentially been sighted. Ducking under a banner which was on display, he spared a glance at a stall full of electronic gadgets. Amongst them were a few clocks of various descriptions, showing a range of times which averaged out at about five thirty. A groan slipped out of his throat; he'd forgotten his alarm clock in the hotel room. If he wasn't so sure there was somebody following him, then he'd have stopped to pick up a replacement.

Before the paranoia could eat him up any further, he stepped around a corner into the back section of the market and headed for the far exit, brushing against another man in a black coat – or was it the same one as before? Either way, it didn't matter; if those doors lead into an empty alley he'd be all right. He could fight there.

The double doors were made of thick steel and seemed to be stuck for a moment when he first pushed against them. For a moment he thought they were locked, but they quickly gave way under the force his modified body could exert. Just as he'd hoped, the alley was empty, save for a dumpster against the back wall and a car parked to the side. It was clearly a private loading bay, but fortunately nobody was around.

He began to walk forward, slowing down as he entered an environment he was more at home fighting in. Just in front of him, the lane split at a T-intersection and headed off in two directions; it was clear that this section wasn't part of the lane proper.

A look over his shoulder told him that nobody was follow him – or, at least, nobody had followed him through the door just yet – and he allowed himself to grin; there was nothing to worry about any longer.

That grin faded instantly as he turned left around the corner.

Directly in front of him were three Britannian Police officers, one touching his earpiece and whispering something while the other two toted bulky firearms. Firearms, he realised with a start, which had been specially developed for one purpose and one purpose only: to kill him.

Barely giving himself time to think, he spun around and made to run in the other direction: he couldn't dodge the bullets, but their accuracy wasn't necessarily perfect. A similar sight caused him to skid to a stop before he'd even left the T-intersection, although this group of three only had one who held a rifle capable of killing him. Much further behind them was a man in a black coat – the same one he had suspected of following him.

Without wasting a second, he pivoted and dived behind the car, listening intently as round after round was emptied into the other side of the vehicle. He instantly reached into his coat and pulled out a pistol, switching it into his left hand and allowing the spike to extend from his right wrist. He'd have to wait for them to stop and make a break for the door; if he waited any longer, they'd eventually make their way around. Staying and fighting wasn't an option either: he might have been able to outmanoeuvre two with special rifles and a regular one, but three of each was far too much, even for him. One shot would kill him and he could be sure they'd all shoot at the same time. Even that was saying nothing about the seventh person, who hadn't drawn a weapon yet.

That line of thought gave him an idea and had him reaching into his bag for a second time. This time he withdrew a pair of smoke grenades and whipped the pins out in a fluent motion. Lobbing both over the car, he waited for the gas to be released before making a break for the door. A few shots were heard, but the sound of gunfire slowed as he reached it, pulling forcefully on the handle.

It didn't budge.

He looked over his shoulder as he fought with the mechanism. Two smoke grenades weren't entirely necessary, but it was far better to be safe than sorry. The air was thick with smoke, to the point where he could no longer see the car, but it was rapidly receding due to a strong wind funnelling down the alleyway. He ground his teeth together as he realised what had happened: the door had been locked from the other side.

Cursing his inattention, he spun around in time to hear a resounding boom emanating from the car exploding; evidently, the sustained gunfire had left it in a critical state when he ran for the door. A few chunks of metal flew up and hit him, but were barely noticed as they bounced harmlessly off his body; he had more important things to worry about.

His cover had been destroyed and the dumpster provided little to no protection. He could run into the smoke, but he was likely no better at fighting blind than they were; with a handicap of six enemies, he wouldn't be able to even the odds. Besides, it was doubtful they were even in the smoke any longer. In all likelihood, they had retreated to where they could gun him down as he attempted to escape or go back in after him if he didn't.

It was unfortunate for him that the walls were so high and that they had been rendered: scaling them was not an option. Similarly, breaking through the door would just take the fight into the market and hamper him even more. The only thing he could do, he realised, was attack them head on and hope for the best.

As close to silently as he could, he made his way into the smoke. One foot was carefully placed in front of the other in turn and he consciously reduced the volume of his breathing. It was fortunate for him that the gas was only meant to impair vision and was unable to damage his body, although whether or not more dangerous gas could harm him after his upgrades was debatable.

It seemed that his guess was right; he thought he was already in the centre of the T-intersection and hadn't come across any of his enemies yet, nor heard gunfire. There was still a fair amount of smoke, so he took a few moments to plan his next move.

There were three to his right, but only two had weapons which could hurt him. There were four to his left: one had a special gun and another was the one in the coat. He carefully weighed his chances. He couldn't say for certain that their layouts hadn't changed, but the left route was most likely his best hope for escape.

He turned left in a split second and ran towards the edge of the now semi-transparent smoke, bending his arm to poise the spike for attack. His momentum was halted almost instantly as he charged out of the smoke and came face to face with all three of the officers with special rifles and one other: either they had predicted his moves or had become too lost in the smoke to return to their original positions. There was no sign of the man in the coat.

For almost a second nobody moved. The officers had a clear shot at him, but they were young and had almost certainly never killed before. Their fingers shook on the trigger, ready to shoot at a moment's notice if he moved, but unsure if they could kill him if he didn't.

'_It's over. I can't outrun them,' _Jeremiah thought, grinding his teeth together. A grin gradually grew on his face. _'But I can try.'_

Faster than he had ever moved, he pivoted and made to dash back into what was left of the smoke. He got less than a step in before he heard the shot.

He clutched his chest and stared down at it.

They couldn't have missed from this distance.

He hadn't heard or seen the shot go past him.

So why wasn't he bleeding?

A cough sounding behind him drew his attention instantly, forcing him to spin back around in time to see the man in the coat slump unceremoniously to the ground, blood leaking out from underneath his hooded head.

Why had he done that? That man had stepped in front of the bullet. He'd sacrificed his life for him. He'd been killed by Britannia. Jeremiah didn't know who he was or why he had done what he had, but the sight in front of him was more than enough to steel his resolve.

He saw red.

Charging forward with reckless abandon, he dodged the first bullet instinctively, though barely. Throwing his spike up in front of him just in time to block two bullets out of nothing but sheer luck, he reached the first officer and separated his head from his shoulders without breaking stride. The fourth shot was wide and he took his chance, pouncing to deliver fatal strikes to the other two.

Three bodies lay at his feet, but in the opposite direction, another three lived. With a glance at the man who had taken his bullet, he dove back into the smoke with a snarl. He wouldn't leave any alive.

The three on the other side of the smoke cloud were older and seemed more intelligent than their counterparts, but Jeremiah wasn't in the frame of mind to be wondering why they weren't the ones with the modified rifles. Two opened fire immediately and the other wasn't far behind, barking an order before pulling the trigger on his own pistol.

Jeremiah's own pistol whipped around and a bullet wound up in the man's chest before he could even squeeze off a second round. The other two had automatic weapons, but it made little difference to him; he barely even noticed the bullets bounce harmlessly off him as he aimed his gun and carefully slotted one between each of their eyes in turn.

Had Jeremiah been thinking clearly, he would have realised that something was wrong with this situation. Britannia hated him for opposing them and Japan hated him for helping Lelouch conquer them. Suzaku was Lelouch's right hand man, but he could safely say that he was Lelouch's left hand. As far as he knew, he didn't have a single ally in the world; even those who afforded him accommodation were only thinking about their wallets. Still, someone had saved his life by sacrificing their own; it shouldn't have been possible.

The smoke had completely cleared by the time he turned around. The three bodies of his enemies and the body of his ally – that word felt somewhat awkward to him, considering his life – lay on the other side of where it had once been. People would have heard the gunshots, so he knew he had to leave quickly. But he couldn't leave that person's body on the street, despite the difficulty of removing it, and it was far too tempting to scavenge those weapons. They were relatively new and he'd never managed to take down somebody with one.

He dropped the pistol at his feet. There was no point keeping an empty gun; Britannia would know it was him and there were plenty of replacement weapons in the vicinity. The adrenaline had already mostly left him and his breathing was slightly laboured as he walked across to the other group, despite his robotic upgrades. Every few seconds he found himself throwing glances towards the one who had saved him, subconsciously hoping for some sort of miracle to restore them so he could ask one question: 'why?'

He squatted down and began to check the enemy corpse for anything which might be useful to him: weaponry, cash, identity cards, clearance cards and the like. It was fortunate that he had been paying attention as he filtered through the officer's pockets, or he likely would have missed it.

A finger twitched.

In less than a second he was at their side, kneeling in the pool of blood and gently rolling the person onto their back. They were lighter than he had expected, but he barely registered that fact before checking for a pulse. It was weak, but there definitely was one. Making sure not to startle the man, he pulled the hood back to get a better look at his face. He instantly recoiled in shock.

It couldn't have been her, could it? He'd thought it was a man who had saved him, but he couldn't have been more wrong. He'd thought this girl had died years ago, in the aftermath of Schneizel's conquest.

She shifted slightly below him, allowing her long, green hair to flow out of the coat and lie on her chest. Her complexion was slightly pale, but he thought she might have always been like that. Aside from the bullet hole in her temple and faint pulse – although that was quickly returning to normal – it would have been difficult to tell that anything was wrong with her.

A pair of yellow eyes stared up at him apathetically. He knew he should say something, but he had no idea what. Should he thank her? Should he ask what she was doing here? Why she had saved him? Where she had been? She was the one to break the silence.

From between her lips came three words that would change the course of his life forever.

"Lelouch needs you."

* * *

**A/N: Oh dear, it looks like I'm unbelievably late for this chapter. To tell you the truth, I've lost a lot of motivation to write fanfiction now that I've started back at school, but I don't plan on stopping Code Geass: The Game of Kings! :)  
**

**I have to admit that I actually cut a fairly large scene from the end of this chapter. That final scene felt like a good place to leave it at and I was already approaching 7,500 words, so I figured I might as well. Thanks to that, I'm making a bunch of changes to the next two chapters and switching their order so they flow better. That might take a bit of ironing, though. =P**

**I know I promised Kallen in Phase 12, but I'm afraid that also means she'll be bumped back to Phase 13. =(  
**

* * *

**What I would like to hear about if you decide to review:**

**1) How do you think I did writing Jeremiah (ORENJI~!)? I found it extremely difficult to develop a day-to-day persona for him which doesn't build around Lelouch. Writing his first-person thoughts was a particular issue, because I don't think we ever saw Jeremiah talking/thinking about anything non-serious and non-Lelouch-related. For other authors out there: have any of you had the same problem?**

**2) Thoughts on the fight scene? I've never written a non-mecha Code Geass fight scene of any description (they don't really fit in very well), but Orenji has to simultaneously**** escape and **** kick ass, or he just isn't Jeremiah, you know? =P  
**

**3) Theories? A few more clues about Schneizel, the guy with Schneizel and Laroque this chapter. ;D**

* * *

**A/N: ****As I said before, I've lost a lot of motivation, so updates will take a bit longer now and be a lot more sporadic. Not as long as this chapter, hopefully; they should be taking somewhere between 2-4 weeks (not including exam week and those with a lot of assessments). I'll try to speed it up for you all, though! =)**

**Hope you enjoyed Phase 11!  
**

**Cheers,**

**Lord Bear**


	12. Phase 12

**The Headquarters of The Order of the Black Knights**

Suzaku winced as he pulled the false face off, each piece of adhesive stinging enough to warrant a response, but not a cry of pain from the former Knight of Zero. It was a pity Lelouch had never shown him how to make them; a few had been left over from the Black Knights' original stockpile, but they were now so old that the adhesives had to be reinforced to stop them falling off in public. He would have to ask Lelouch to do so when he next got the chance, he reflected, but there were more important things on his mind.

Shirley was alive; she had been alive the entire time. Lelouch's word had been proven true and he had his friend back. One of his friends back, at least. He had still received no word on Lloyd or Nina, although he had a feeling that Lelouch had some sort of idea what had happened to them: Suzaku had questioned him about them and he had begun to respond but Suzaku was forced to end the call – Cornelia had once again entered his office without warning. He really had to see about getting a lock on that door at some point.

He had been under the impression that Lelouch would meet him at the designated point, so he had been on the lookout for another person using the same type of mask. From what he had heard, Lelouch hadn't been using the masks recently anyway. Maybe he didn't have any? Instead he had been relying on a simple disguise of a baseball cap to cover his face. It was risky, Suzaku had thought, but Lelouch had told him otherwise. "Hide in plain sight," he had said. "The Black Knights and even some of the Britannian military have been trained to recognise these masks; I'd almost certainly be caught if I used one."

That had led him to believe that he could be meeting with a mysterious cloaked man or meeting Lelouch in a deserted café under the control of Geass. He had never expected Shirley to be the one meeting with him. It was great to see her, he wouldn't deny that, but his time was severely limited; aside from receiving a package and letter, there was very little they managed to discuss other than for each to be brought up to speed on some of the other's life. If he was surprised that she was the one to meet with him, then he was even more surprised that she was sitting to the side of a fairly busy café in the middle of Tokyo without the slightest hint of a disguise attempt. He supposed it didn't really matter for her as much as for him or Lelouch; they were extremely high profile people when they were alive, but Shirley was a child – orphaned by the Narita Battle and FLEIJA blast – whose death would have passed unnoticed to all but her friends and police, ending up in an old records box somewhere. Eventually, they said their goodbyes and he returned to the two floors of apartments the Black Knights were currently using as their headquarters.

It was an inconvenience that he was forced to remain with the Black Knights, but it was necessary to keep up appearances. "The Order of the Black Knights has become obsolete," Lelouch had said. It was a calloused statement, but one which had to be said. Suzaku had originally been shocked that Lelouch had suggested they could win without the Black Knights, even going as far as to say that they couldn't win by using them, but Zero Requiem convinced him otherwise. The Black Knights had served their final purpose the moment the Demon Emperor, Lelouch vi Britannia, defeated them in battle.

If Zero deserted the Black Knights, Suzaku knew that he would lose all support from the public. There was no doubting that Zero needed to remain their leader, but there was no use preparing them for any further assaults or missions. He had to maintain a balance between doing nothing and running the Order like he did up until the last battle in which he was captured. The former would ruin the public's image of him and cause the Black Knights themselves to become restless, while the latter would cause casualties, wasted time and unnecessary complications. Lelouch had agreed to take his place at various times to allow Suzaku to continue preparations for Zero Requiem, but for the most part he was on his own. It wasn't long to go until they would be ready, though. Soon, they would be a force to be reckoned with, completely independent of the Order of the Black Knights' banner.

Dropping the mask onto the bench beside the bathroom sink, he soaked a handtowel in warm water and allowed it to gently remove the adhesives from his face. Only a few moments after he replaced his Zero mask and returned to his office, Cornelia strode in without so much as a knock.

"Zero, what's going on?"

Suzaku wasn't taken aback by the intensity of her demand for information. "What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean!" she insisted, glaring at him. "Everything is about money now. Money, money, money. We haven't made any sort of movement for days."

"We have been gathering materials as well," he offered, but she wasn't about to accept that answer.

"It makes no difference. Our numbers are down to the core group and everybody is losing confidence. We've got nothing left, Zero – Nothing! We couldn't beat my brother then and we don't have a hope of beating him now!"

Suzaku said nothing, allowing her to sigh and continue.

"If only I had defeated Lelouch earlier, this might not have happened," she began, her air of confidence fading almost completely. "I could have found a way to become Empress of Britannia and would have had the entire Britannian army at my disposal to fight Schneizel. He's got the whole world in his pocket; he's got thousands of people in a fully equipped army and we have nothing. He's just too good! Even without those advantages, the only one who could possibly fight him on even ground would be…would be…"

"–Lelouch," he finished.

For a moment she seemed as though she was about to descend into tears – something he never expected to see from her – but she stopped. It was as if something had finally clicked in her mind. Suzaku sat perfectly still as she met his gaze and prepared himself to face her revelation, question or whatever else had caused such a turnaround.

"Why did you kill him, then?" she demanded, equal undertones of betrayal and long-buried residual familial feelings for her dead brother in her voice. "If you knew he was the only one who could beat Schneizel, why did you kill him?"

"I did what I thought was best for the world at the time," he explained softly, turning to face a large mirror on the wall behind him. "All of the world's hate was focussed on Lelouch. If he died, that hate would die with him."

Through the mirror he could see that Cornelia had tilted her head down, although not enough to stop him from seeing her unfocussed and slightly glassy eyes. She hadn't made a move to reply, so he continued.

"I had no way to know about Schneizel, either. It should have been impossible for him to escape, but he managed that anyway. Everything points to Nina having rescued him, but she has no definite motive to do that."

"All of the world's hate was focussed on him. If he died, the world's hate would die with him," she repeated softly, looking up at him with a tear running down her cheek for the first time in many years. "He planned it, didn't he? He planned it all. And you helped him…Suzaku."

He had said too much. Cornelia was always smart, but she hadn't managed to see through their charade until now. She and Tōdō seemed to be missing the final piece of the puzzle that would allow them to work it out since the day of the execution, so he had been extremely careful not to give it to them.

He supposed it was too late in Zero Requiem for it to matter, and fortunately Cornelia was the only witness. Even if he wanted to deny it, he couldn't; he had stiffened momentarily at her conclusion and in that moment, he knew she had caught him.

Slowly, he brought his hand to his head and allowed the mask mechanism to detach itself. Before she could get a glimpse of his face he turned around and placed the mask on his desk. His ears picked up a quiet gasp coming from her as her suspicions were confirmed: Kururugi Suzaku, former Knight of Zero and fallen soldier of Britannia, was alive and standing right in front of her.

It was almost as much of a shock to him; aside from Lelouch, Shirley and Jeremiah, nobody had seen his face for over a year. He felt somewhat vulnerable without Zero's mask to protect his identity and shield him for questions he couldn't answer without revealing parts of Zero Requiem, but he pushed that feeling to the back of his mind; he had to act quickly and decisively.

"Cornelia…" He stared her in the eye. "There is a way to defeat Schneizel."

* * *

**Tokyo Docks**

**The Hangar**

It wasn't really a cell, more of a resting area. Or at least that's how Lelouch tried to justify it in his mind. True, the man would be unable to escape if he woke up, but Lelouch had no plans of allowing that to happen. He might have been keeping the man as a prisoner, but if he hadn't woken up the entire time, he couldn't really call the room his prison cell or even know that it existed, as a matter of fact.

Lelouch wasn't sure why he was trying to justify the use of the room in his head; it was decidedly less cruel than many other things he'd done. He'd ordered people to kill themselves, had people injected with Refrain, gone to war with the world and paraded his former comrades around like prizes when he had defeated them.

Perhaps it was something to do with Shirley, he mused. She hadn't been happy with the man's living conditions and made the cell – no, he couldn't call it that – the _room_ more comfortable for him in case he awoke. He wouldn't awake – that much Lelouch knew – but she was fixated on doing it to satiate her guilty conscience, Lelouch suspected. It hadn't really rubbed off on him a lot, but allowing her permission to fit the room with a proper bed and a heater was a relatively easy way of keeping her morale high.

The bed didn't look out of place in the room, even though it was brand new and fitted with almost perfectly white sheets. It would have been far too difficult and overall detrimental to his goals if he was to go out of his way to locate a dingy, stone cell with bars in the doorway. Instead the room was well lit and its walls were covered in recently applied wallpaper. He supposed his captive didn't deserve harsh treatment, anyway; it was partly Lelouch's fault he was in his current state and entirely Lelouch's fault he was being held captive. He could be useful, too.

Lelouch stretched his hand out and felt the man's pulse. He didn't expect it to be unusual, of course, but checking was a necessity. He had readministered the tranquilizer personally every day, so nothing would have gone wrong without him knowing about it immediately. A drip stood next to the bed, providing the man with enough nutrients and fluids to keep him alive for the time he had been under the effects of the tranquilizers.

Kanon shifted in his unconsciousness, causing Lelouch to raise an eyebrow. He shouldn't have been having any sorts of dreams; the tranquilizers were supposed to send him into a dreamless sleep. It had likely been a long time since he had used Refrain, so he could be suffering from withdrawals in some manner. Even though Lelouch had used the same tranquilizer given to comatose Refrain patients to stave off their unconscious withdrawal symptoms, the other chemicals in the man's body might have negated some of those effects.

Fortunately, they hadn't affected its primary function: to force Kanon into unconsciousness. Carefully, he pulled the drip needle out of the man's arm and let it fall to the floor before slinging an arm around the back of his neck. He was heavy, Lelouch immediately realised after trying to pick him up. Having Suzaku around might have been useful, but he had business that day which couldn't be put off for much longer.

It was a horrible struggle that took far longer than it should have for the athletically-disinclined Lelouch, but eventually he managed to push – almost roll – Kanon off the bed and into a sitting position in a wheelchair he had brought with him. It was a simple solution for transporting an unconscious body without raising suspicion, but one which required patience and liberal use of Geass to gather the wheelchair and an accessible vehicle without stealing either from someone who depended on them.

After arranging Kanon's limbs to avoid having them flailing about outside the wheelchair, he began to steer it out onto the mezzanine. It was an extremely large building, but fortunately there was a ramp which made things much easier to traverse with his unconscious prisoner. He had 'acquired' the building using his Geass, of course, so there was no danger of him being questioned as he made his way down into the hanger and loaded Kanon into a sedan with the back seats stripped out.

Nobody made much of a fuss when he arrived at the hospital either, although he did get a few strange looks from people passing by for wheeling a seemingly unconscious person away from the main hospital doors without a doctor's uniform. In truth, he was merely heading towards the emergency exit: the close proximity made using Geass at a moment's notice much easier than in a large foyer.

Even when he entered, nobody really paid any attention to him. A nurse working at the desk in front of the double-doors snapped her head up to regard him when he entered, but seemed to lose interest when she realised he wasn't part of an ambulance crew bringing a critically injured patient. He was expecting to be told that he was using the wrong entrance, at least, but it seemed she didn't care either way. He supposed that Tokyo Hospital must have been the sort of place who wouldn't so much as speak to you until you flashed your chequebook, although he had never been there in his life as Lelouch Lamperouge, so he didn't know that before entering. The state of the hospital didn't concern him; he required the services of one of its specialists – someone who had once worked on one of his most secretive and ambitious projects

Silently thankful for the cap which was just barely obscuring his face from identification, he made his way towards the elevators and up to the eighth level. A few doctors walked up to him to inquire about why he was pushing a patient around the hospital, but he was using his Geass liberally on anybody who got within a few metres of him to distract their attention; he couldn't wear a false face in the presence of so many medical professionals and couldn't make them forget him completely due to the security cameras, so there was no reason not to utilise the extra precaution Geass gave him to its full extent.

He gave a nurse in the reception area of the eighth floor a different command and was told that there was a room at the end of the hall which had been prepared for use but wouldn't be occupied for days due to a cancellation. It suited his purposes well enough, so he immediately dropped Kanon off and went to search for the specialist.

After checking the hospital directory, he found that the man's office was on the fifth floor; he had really only gone to the eighth because he knew it was entirely filled with private rooms and would be his best chance at finding Kanon one. Fortunately, the office was a private one, so his job could not have been any easier.

He made his way down in the elevator, making sure to keep the brim of his hat low to avoid being identified in the lift, and soon found himself facing a window-less door.

'_Dr Alan Hazelby,'_ Lelouch read from the plaque. _'So that's what you're calling yourself now.'_

The man jumped slightly as Lelouch pushed the door open and coughed to get his attention. He spun around immediately and their eyes met.

"Follow me."

Almost invisible red rings encircled the man's eyes as he succumbed to the Geass Lelouch had placed him under so long ago. "Of course."

Lelouch lead the way back up to the eighth floor and found Kanon exactly where he had left him. There was never really much to worry about: the only nurse on the floor was already under his Geass to ignore anything suspicious.

He turned to the doctor and began. "I need you to run a blood test on him. He should be fairly heavily laced with the Refrain tranquilizer and have significant levels of Refrain itself – enough to indicate a lengthy habit. I'm looking for something different, though – something a bit more…nasty."

Hazelby nodded. "Anything else?"

"Get me results as fast as you can without jeopardising the tests. Make sure you tell nobody about what you are doing, or about either me or this patient being here. Lie if you have to," Lelouch began. "I'll need some way to neutralise the tranquilizer and anything harmful you find, as well."

After shuffling around in a storage cupboard for a few minutes, Hazelby emerged with a pair of needles and withdrew a chamber full of blood from Kanon with each. He left the room without a word to begin his analysis.

Lelouch closed the door and locked it; Hazelby could knock when he returned. There was nothing left to do but wait, now; the man he had just spoken to was regarded as one of the best in his field, so he could be assured of results within a few hours. With that thought in mind, he settled down in a chair next to the bed and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**The Headquarters of The Order of the Black Knights**

"What?"

"I said there's a way to defeat Schneizel."

Her eyes hardened immediately. "Stop screwing with me, Suzaku! There's no hope for us now!"

"Schneizel isn't invincible, Cornelia," he responded with a perfectly straight face. "He _can_ be beaten."

"Your world is a fantasy world," she spat.

He remained unperturbed, the persona he had adapted to as he wore Zero's mask blending with his personality until he could barely differentiate the two from each other. "I am living in this world, just as you are, just as Schneizel is and just as every other man, woman and child alive is. Schneizel _can_ be defeated."

"You said it yourself only a few moments ago! We've got nothing left! Everyone outside the core group has been lost, the Avalon has been destroyed, our facilities have been restricted to these two floors we've managed to hold onto, we're down to twenty knightmare frames and the Guren is all but useless! All we've got left is the money and raw materials you've been making us gather for seemingly no reason, and the public support your little stunt at the execution brought us."

"We don't have a lot, that's true…"

She glared at him.

"…but it's more than enough to win," he finished, ignoring the incredulous expression that spread across her face. "It will be tough, but it can be done."

"You're serious, aren't you?" she asked. "You really believe that."

He nodded. "I do."

"You're out of your mind, Suzaku! You said yourself that the only person who could win was Lelouch!" She was practically shouting now; it was fortunate the room had been soundproofed and the other members were across the road. "Lelouch is dead, Suzaku!"

Instead of responding immediately, he slowly turned back towards the mirror and thought about the best way he could phrase what he needed to say.

"Sometimes things don't turn out exactly as planned…" he began softly. Cornelia's expressions mellowed out somewhat in sympathy, but she allowed him to continue. "Sometimes battles don't go your way. Sometimes people betray you. Sometimes you see a better opening but it doesn't work out…"

"…and sometimes everything goes exactly as planned."

Cornelia's eyes had been gradually softening with each line, but the weight of the last caused them to instantly snap back to perfect alertness. "Exactly as planned? Nothing has ever gone 'exactly as planned' for us in this past year. What are you talking about?"

"Everything."

She remained silent, her eyes widening as she felt the crushing impact of that word.

"The rebellion was planned. Lelouch's death was planned. Schneizel conquering the world was planned." He ground his teeth in frustration. "The fall of The Order of the Black Knights was planned."

"What? Then why have we come this far, if we never had a chance?" Cornelia shouted, slamming her palm down on the desk.

"Because it was the only way to defeat Schneizel! It still is!" he responded with equal forcefulness.

For a moment she seemed as though she was about to say something else, but instead the fire drained from her eyes, leaving a thoroughly defeated-looking woman. "You really planned all of this, then?"

"Not alone."

Her eyebrows creased. "Then who…?"

_**Even without those advantages, the only one who could possibly fight him on even ground would be…would be…"**_

_**"–**__**Lelouch,"**_

"No…" she stuttered in disbelief, eyes wide as she took a step backwards in shock. "No! It couldn't have been _him_, could it? All this time…you and Lelouch…"

Suzaku ignored her, instead walking over to his personal safe and inputting the code. From it he withdrew three packages wrapped in brown paper which had been sitting there for days, waiting for the right opportunity to be put to use. He placed one on his desk and stacked the other two in a pile next to the first. Cornelia's gaze was locked onto him as he pulled a piece of paper out of his drawer and wrote down an address.

He placed it on top of the single package and made to speak, but she cut him off. "Why didn't you just kill Schneizel?"

"He would not have been defeated. It isn't that simple."

"I want answers, Suzaku!"

He pointed to the piece of paper. "If you want answers, come to this address at this time in two days. Use the contents of the package under it to conceal your identity completely."

She was instantly suspicious. "I've seen this happen before, Suzaku. If you think you can lure me into a place where I can be easily neutralised, it won't work."

"I don't intend to," he reassured her, before pointing at the two packages stacked in a pile. "These two are for Guilford and Darlton; you are to inform them of the situation and ask that they attend. They will be expected to conceal their identity using the contents of their own packages as well. Tell nobody else."

Some of the doubt drained from her eyes at the assurance Guilford and Darlton's presence would provide: Suzaku hadn't said anything about not being armed. She took a moment to consider.

"…I'll trust you this once, Suzaku. Don't let me down."

With those words, she collected the parcels, turned on her heel and strode out of the room with all the air of a Britannian Princess.

Suzaku released an audible sigh as he sat down and reattached his Zero mask. He had never told anybody about that part of Zero Requiem and he was understandably nervous about revealing his identity after being presumed dead for years. Still, it had to be done. They would need Cornelia on-side if they wanted to win; it was just fortunate she was as level-headed as she was or he could have been in for some serious trouble.

Massaging his temples with his index finger, he picked up the phone and dialled Lelouch's number.

* * *

**Tokyo Hospital**

Lelouch was pulled out of his slumber by the sound of his phone registering an incoming call. The caller ID was simply "Suzaku" so he accepted the call immediately.

"Suzaku."

"Lelouch. I've spoken to Cornelia."

"Cornelia?" he questioned, slightly unfocussed while he still woke up. "What about?"

"Zero Requiem."

If there were two words in his entire vocabulary which could force Lelouch to become instantly alert, those were them. "I see. Was she responsive to the idea?"

"It took some talking, but she'll come."

"Good. What about Darlton and Guilford?"

"I haven't spoken to them yet," Suzaku admitted. "Cornelia took their packages and agreed to fill them in. It makes things easier, at least."

"If Cornelia approaches them, they will accept," Lelouch agreed.

"Yes. What about Tōdō, though? Should I speak to him too? He will be much more difficult than Cornelia to persuade."

"No," Lelouch responded after a moment's contemplation. "I will. Tōdō requires a much firmer approach than Cornelia."

"You never gave me a package for him, anyway. Unless the one Shirley gave me was for him…"

"No. That is a copy of mine and will belong to you only," Lelouch reassured him.

"Ah." Suzaku seemed slightly embarrassed. "I supposed I should have opened it before I asked, then?"

"It is not urgent. You can probably guess what it is."

"I do have some idea."

The doctor chose that time to knock on the door and Lelouch stood up. "The verdict on Kanon has arrived. I have to coordinate materials transfer to The Hanger tonight, so I might be out of contact for some time. Shirley will be available."

He hung up before Suzaku could answer and strode over towards the door. Hazelby bustled in immediately after he unlocked it and shut it behind himself.

"What did you find?"

He nodded. "You were right. There is a significant amount of a specific foreign substance in the patient's bloodstream. It's not something I've ever seen before, but analysis of its key components lead me to believe that it was designed to foster feelings of loyalty, trust and adoration for a specific person. At least, that's what I believe; I was able to isolate a specific strand of DNA which was embedded in the substance."

"Is it possible that it was being used to control his actions or thought processes?" Lelouch asked. So far his original predictions had been correct; Kanon was potentially useful after all. "And give me a sample of that DNA before you leave."

"It's possible, but unlikely. Its purpose seems to be to target and boost these positive latent emotions towards whomever that DNA belongs to. I'm not sure how it was actually incorporated into the substance, though; the creator must have significant resources available to them."

Lelouch creased his eyebrows. Without a verdict that the drug was an explicit mind controlling agent, his job would be slightly harder. Still, the fact that it acutely targeted the mind alone would go a long way to supporting him. He wasn't quite sure why he was even bothering to help the man to begin with, but he figured that Guilford, Darlton and Chiba couldn't do everything alone. On a purely strategic level, it wasn't worth the effort to kill him and dispose of the body, although he knew that was a weak reason: securing Hazelby's assistance was even more problematic. Most likely, it was a product of his own guilt; he _had_ subjected the man to Refrain and then disappeared, regardless of his precautions.

"Wake him up," Lelouch finally ordered.

The doctor was moving straight away, making a beeline for Kanon. Within a few seconds he had picked the immobilised man up – with no assistance from the physically incompetent Lelouch, of course – and placed him on the bed. He was halfway through removing a set of leather straps from a nearby cupboard when Lelouch stopped him.

"What are they for?"

"They're for restraining the patient," Hazelby answered without pausing or turning to look at him. He continued to strap Kanon face-up to the bed as he talked. "As you are aware, there are a number of serious psychoactive substances in his body which I plan on removing. It's difficult to judge what his mental condition will be like when he wakes up, so the straps are necessary to maintain our safety, should he become violent."

Lelouch raised an eyebrow. "You can remove all of them?"

"Only the tranquilizer and the drug I just ran tests on," he admitted. "There is no medical cure for Refrain."

That was what Lelouch was expecting, of course. For a moment he had thought the doctor was claiming that he had managed to obtain the elusive cure and that had scared him. His scientists – ironically, including the unwitting man in front of him – had worked long and hard to manufacture that drug and keep it contained: Kanon was the only victim he knew of. Unless it had been reverse-engineered, only two people in the world had the cure:

Himself and Schneizel.

It was a powerful drug, to be sure, but he couldn't see any reason for Schneizel to have attempted to recreate it. It wasn't something he would ever need to use, with its far more sinister brother strain freely available and his own power-hungry disposition. He knew it was a risk for Schneizel to have the other cure, but it was a necessary one.

He had given him the cure personally, after all.

"Proceed."

Hazelby prepared a needle and had just begun to search for a vein when Lelouch interrupted him. "No, use a peripheral IV."

If the doctor thought the command was strange, he didn't show it, calmly removing the necessary equipment from a nearby cupboard and setting to work as if was what he had originally been planning on doing. Lelouch watched on impassively as the fluids were pumped through the catheter, the first to deal with the unknown drug and the second to negate the tranquilizer.

Hazelby stepped back once they had both been administered. "He should regain consciousness in a few seconds."

"Good. Ensure that all evidence of the work you did on this patient today is destroyed and that you forget any details about either of us. You may leave now."

Lelouch followed the man to the door and locked it after he had left. Walking back towards the bed, he noticed that Kanon was beginning to awaken.

"…Urgh…"

"Did you sleep well?" he asked idly. It didn't really matter what he said; Kanon was coming out of a medically-induced coma which had lasted more than a few days and wouldn't be able to make sense of anything for a few seconds at least. Lelouch didn't know a whole lot about medicine, but he hoped that his almost kind tone would position the man to be more forgiving and accepting when he awoke.

"…Urgh…"

Well he didn't seem to be violent at the moment, so that was a good thing. It was impossible to deal with him in this state, of course, but it boded well for his disposition when he eventually did awaken.

"…Where…"

"Hospital," Lelouch answered without waiting for the rest of the question. It was fairly obvious what it would be, anyway.

"…Execution…Zero…Did he escape…?"

"So you remember that, do you?" he mused. "Zero escaped and you were…liberated."

Kanon was far more alert now. "Liberated?"

"Yes, liberated. Tell me, have you ever felt as though there was some sort of interference in your mind? A kind of…distortion, perhaps?"

Kanon narrowed his eyebrows, but it was too difficult to open his eyes in the bright room and see who he was talking to. "Who are you? How do you know that?"

"I see…" Lelouch muttered, eyes drifting around the room. He slowly walked over and unbuckled the straps holding Kanon to the bed with his right hand, while reaching out with his left to dim the lights via a switch next to the bed. "I have suspected for a while that Schneizel may have been poisoning the minds of some of his subordinates, particularly you. I haven't been able to find any evidence that such a thing was occurring until today, however, when I had some tests run on your blood."

Any objections to his blood being extracted and studied without consent died in his throat at the implications in Lelouch's statement. "I…what…His Highness Schneizel? No, he wouldn't do something like that!"

"I'm afraid it's true," Lelouch sighed, his voice laced with insincere regret and sadness. "It was a drug designed to forcibly suppress your free thought, effectively enslaving you to the first person to ask for your loyalty: Schneizel. You are fortunate that I have taken steps to completely remove its dwindling influence from your system."

The explanation had confused him for a moment, but with his mind working furiously and unhampered by either the effects of Refrain or Schneizel's drug it quickly became glaringly obvious. The haze which had been over his mind constantly for as long as he could remember was gone. A "distortion," the mysterious man he knew to be in front of him had referred to it as, and he had called it exactly the same thing in his own thoughts.

If its influence had been dwindling, then it couldn't have been very long-lasting. He figured he had been unconscious for a day or two at most, so it would have to be administered daily – or nightly, as he suspected to be the case. It was impossible to forget the many nights he had spent shivering on the floor of his bedroom as he injected himself with Refrain; his head was always clearest at night…

"He was drugging me at night, wasn't he?" Kanon questioned sombrely, almost dreading the answer. He was surprising himself with how quickly he was accepting the word of somebody whose identity he didn't know, but the more he thought about it, the more he knew it was true.

"Yes, he was." Lelouch wasn't entirely familiar with his brother's schedule, but it sounded like something he would do; if Kanon was prepared to convince himself that the drugging was happening of a night, then he wasn't about to disagree. Mind games were all too easy for Lelouch and he had already taken the liberty of 'adjusting' the drug's specifics. Nobody would ever find out, either: it was a subtle difference and all evidence of Lelouch's lie had been destroyed.

A perfect deception.

"Who are you?"

"Open your eyes and find out."

Kanon tried and, to his surprise, found he was able to open his eyes slightly without the light stinging him horribly. At some point, the man in front of him had dimmed the light and he hadn't attempted to open them since. His eyes widened in shock as he stared, but his facial expressions quickly morphed into a scowl.

"You! How are you alive? You're supposed to be dead!"

Lelouch seemed unfazed. "Is that how you treat the one who saved you?"

"Saved me?" Kanon repeated incredulously, his tone far stronger than one Lelouch had ever heard him use before. "You think you saved me? You destroyed me! You and your _Refrain_!"

He spat the last word and Lelouch was forced to impassively wipe his jacket on the side of the bed to clean it. "It was not my fault that you became addicted to Refrain."

"How could it not be your fault? I had no choice! Neither did Diethard."

"That much is true, but the drug I gave you was not Refrain as you know it."

Some of the anger drained from Kanon's face, replaced instead by confusion. "What? What do you mean it wasn't Refrain?"

"When I was Zero, leading The Order of the Black Knights, I had in my service a team of the world's best scientists. It was a black operation; only myself and those on the team were aware of it, and even they had their minds wiped once it had been completed. In its facilities we created Refrain Z – Refrain Zero – and mass-produced it to be distributed to the public."

Kanon didn't even attempt to disguise his disgust, but Lelouch continued before he could respond.

"Refrain Z differs to Refrain in one critical way: it is curable. Hundreds of thousands of Refrain Z doses have been distributed around the world since its creation, selling for comparatively lower prices than Refrain. By my calculations, almost half of all people addicted to the drug are addicted to the Refrain Z strand and can be cured when the time is right."

"Then…then you created it to help people?" Kanon questioned, his voice finally returning to one Lelouch was familiar with him using. Seeing Lelouch nod his response, he continued. "What about me? Diethard?"

"My original intention was to neutralise you with a tranquilizer, but they were destroyed along with my knightmare frame by Gino Weinberg as I breached the Damocles. The only things I was carrying which could force the same effect were two syringes of Refrain Z. I was forced to improvise."

Kanon seemed to accept that explanation, but his eyes hardened slightly. "How can I trust you?"

"I let you live, didn't I?" Lelouch replied, a slight smirk gracing his lips. "If I wanted to kill you, I would have done so. I did kill Diethard, after all."

"You could have cured me, but you didn't."

"Lelouch vi Britannia, the Demon Emperor, taking mercy on his prisoners? Unlikely," he scoffed. "Some time after placing the command on Schneizel to 'serve Zero,' I hid the cure to Refrain Z on his body and ordered him to give it to you when he was released."

Kanon was shocked. "You knew he would escape?"

"Of course I knew he would escape. That entire day was a charade."

"Then why didn't…"

"Why didn't Schneizel give you the cure?" Lelouch repeated, guessing the rest of the question. "Unfortunately, he broke the Geass sooner than I had expected and must not have come into contact with you during the time he was under it. Schneizel had the ability to cure you of your addiction and did not."

Lelouch watched impassively as Kanon's facial expressions shifted between rage, hurt and betrayal, before settling on a combination of all three. Playing on people's emotions came naturally to him and it was time to secure the man's allegiance.

"Schneizel saw you as nothing more than a tool, to be forcibly kept in control until no longer necessary. You almost certainly never knew the real Schneizel El Britannia."

Kanon stared at the wall behind Lelouch, shock and confusion visible on his face for a few moments before his eyes glazed over and he took on a far-away look.

"_**Thank you, Lelouch. There are no problems left, now that you've come out into the open."**_

Kanon's eyes widened and his lip began to tremble.

"_**It doesn't matter. Let's give Lelouch everything, even the country of Britannia. The problem lies beyond that."**_

"…It all makes sense," Kanon murmured. "When you announced yourself as Emperor, he thanked you for coming out into the open. He allowed you to capture him, he allowed you to order his execution and he planned his recapture of the world well before he was defeated by you, didn't he?"

"That is correct."

Kanon's voice dropped to little more than a whisper, feelings of betrayal blocking his throat. "…He was doing the same thing as you, wasn't he?"

"Not exactly, although the basic premise was the same."

"I see…" Kanon bit his lip. "Perhaps I should thank you."

"Not yet."

Before he could voice his confusion, Lelouch raised a needle he had filled during the early stages of their conversation and inserted the tip into the catheter. The unexpected feeling forced Kanon's question to die out in his throat, almost forgotten as the foreign substance entered his bloodstream.

Lelouch stepped back. "Now you can thank me."

"What was that?"

"The cure to Refrain Z," Lelouch replied. "You won't need to subject yourself to Refrain anymore."

Kanon's face lit up immediately, but the fire in his eyes slowly died out. "I've been taking Refrain for over a year; not all of it would have been Refrain Z."

"That doesn't matter. It is the first dose of Refrain which forces the addiction; the following ones are inconsequential."

"I suppose I can forgive you," Kanon said after a few seconds. "And I suppose I even owe you for showing me Schneizel's true nature."

"You've never seen Schneizel's true nature," Lelouch responded sadly. He walked over to the wheelchair and withdrew a brown paper package from beneath the seat, before placing it on the end of the bed. "He has the power to hide himself from the world with ease, but he can still be defeated. And if he is to be defeated, I will need your assistance. I ask this not as Lelouch vi Britannia, but as Lelouch Lamperouge…"

"…And as Zero."

Kanon looked back and forth between the package and Lelouch, weighing up his choices. It was hard to switch sides so suddenly, especially after fighting for so long as Schneizel's second in command, but he had no other choice. Without the drug affecting his mind, it was all too easy to see what the Second Prince had done to him. He couldn't go back now – not after what he'd found out.

He had to do it. Everything told him to join Lelouch: the anger at Schneizel for drugging him, the betrayal from deceiving him and the hurt from neglecting him. He would have given his life for the man, but he'd trampled on his pride.

The words which had spilt from his mouth on that day were purely his own, something he had not been able to claim for as long as he could remember. He'd found a new leader to follow to the end of the world and back.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

* * *

**A/N: Well so much for losing motivation, lol. It's getting really hard to start chapters, but I've found a cure: grog. I had a litre of strongly mixed bourbon and coke, before sitting down and belting out 2,000 words in about three quarters of an hour. Professional authors have it so easy if alcohol is what writes their books for them. =P  
**

* * *

**What I would like to hear about if you decide to review:**

**Character Impressions:**

**1) Lelouch: He's finally got a chance to show his darker side - It was really exciting to write him in this chapter!  
**

**2) Suzaku: I tried to maintain a balance between Zero [talking to Cornelia] and Suzaku [Talking to Lelouch on the phone], but leaned more towards the Zero side of things. Hopefully it came out all right! :)  
**

**3) Cornelia: Again, I know, but I'm really paranoid about her characterisation :(**

**4) Kanon: This is one tricky character to write, especially in emotionally-volatile scenes. He's usually so serene, so it was difficult to have him getting angry over anything, so I tried to make him flip backwards and forwards between that and a more vague tone to show the emotional struggle. I have no clue how effective it was, though. :S  
**

**Theories:**

**5) Anybody worked out what Schneizel is doing? Two more chapters until the big reveal! =P  
**

**6) How can Lelouch and Suzaku win with what they have now? What is Zero Requiem?  
**

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**A/N: I've got exams coming up in 3-4 weeks, so I'm going to aim at getting at least one chapter in before then, preferably two. I'll take aim at...hmmm...May 29 to get Phase 13 out, but I have a funny feeling that I might go nuts and have it done by May 22. Depends how much energy school sucks out of me, I guess. ;D**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter!  
**

**Cheers,**

**Lord Bear**


	13. Phase 13

**Headquarters of the Order of the Black Knights**

"Sayoko-san, are we the only people here?"

Sayoko looked up from the letter she was penning on the dresser and smiled kindly at Nunnally. "That's right. Cornelia, Guilford and Darlton left almost an hour ago; they didn't say where they were going. Tōdō and Chiba have gone to buy supplies."

She turned back to her letter. She wasn't writing to anybody in particular, nor would she actually send it anywhere, but she did it anyway. It was more like a diary, but there was something about the letter form which seemed to help her sort out what was on her mind much more easily. She knew she wasn't the only member of the Order of the Black Knights to do exactly that, but nobody seemed to speak about it; even Nunnally didn't ask her what she was doing.

For years, her life had been fairly routine. Spending her days as a maid to two children was far from difficult, especially considering how mature Lelouch was at a young ages, and there seemed to be relatively little that could go wrong. That had all changed when Lelouch drafted her to help with his conquest of the world. In the beginning he told her that his only goal was to help the Japanese gain their independence, but to somebody he had lived with for years, it was clear that there was no way he would stop at that. With Lelouch reaching adulthood and Nunnally only a few years away, she'd found a renewed purpose in helping Lelouch achieve his goals.

Even amongst the unpredictable nature of the "missions" Lelouch would send her on within Ashford Academy, she'd managed to find something of a routine, albeit an unorthodox one. He had always given her fairly specific instructions when she had a "mission" and would always find her when he required something else. Not being included in the decision-making process, Sayoko was forced to do very little thinking of her own.

Now Lelouch was dead and her only duty remaining was her original order to protect Nunnally. Unfortunately for her, there's only so much a maid – even a super maid – can do to protect somebody who is living with people as strong and heavily armed as those in the Order of the Black Knights.

Even so, the Black Knights seemed to be crumbling away. It was a fact that nobody ever mentioned, but she could tell that everybody recognised. Their faith in Zero was waning, morale had taken a hit and they seemed to be at the end of the road. They lived or died at Schneizel's whim.

She was fortunate, in an ironic sense, that Nunnally was crippled. One day, when the Black Knights were no more, Nunnally would leave them and she would go with her. She may have regained her sight, but a paraplegic Princess was an easy target. If she stayed out of the world of politics, Sayoko would be there to protect her. If she accepted her role as a Britannian Princess, Sayoko would be there regardless: Nunnally would never let her go.

"Chiba said that she might buy us a hot meal from the international market, though," she said with a smile, turning back to face her. She penned the last line onto her letter and tucked it away in a breast pocket.

Nunnally seemed pensive. "I haven't eaten something like that for years…"

"We used to eat it all the time; do you remember? Every Saturday, me, you and Lelouch…" Sayoko trailed off in horror, hands flying up to cover her mouth.

Nunnally hadn't spoken Lelouch's name since the day he died. Even when the other Black Knights spoke of him, she remained silent. It could have been a simple unwillingness to involve herself in any conversation which might have slighted her dead brother's memory, but Sayoko saw it as more than that. While not explicitly stated, it had become something of a taboo for his name to be mentioned around Nunnally. Everybody had gone to great lengths not to break this taboo after realising it existed, but Sayoko had been the first to let one slip in a moment of reminiscence.

"Nii-san?" Nunnally repeated, slightly startled that somebody had mentioned Lelouch to her. For a moment Sayoko thought she was going to react badly, but her eyes slowly softened and a slight smile crept onto her face. "Yes, that was nice, wasn't it?"

"You're not…?"

"Angry?" Nunnally suggested kindly. "I know you've all been trying not to mention him, but there's no need to. I don't see Nii-san the way the world does."

Sayoko moved closer to her. "What do you mean?"

"Nii-san was never the Demon Emperor," she continued in a soft voice. "He never deserved the world's hate. I've heard them talk about him. I've heard the things they say. It hurts, but they don't know any better and Lelouch wouldn't have wanted me to tell them."

The soft padding of shoes on carpet could be heard in the hallway. The sound stopped at their door, unnoticed to them.

"I don't think you understand, Sayoko-san, but at least you don't see him they way they do. There are only two people I've never heard speak badly of nii-san: Kallen…"

Sayoko leaned in slightly.

"…and Zero."

Neither noticed the soft footfalls trail away from their door.

* * *

**Basement**

_'Zero knows something about Lelouch,' _Tōdō realised, thoughts swirling around in his head. After overhearing what Nunnally had said, he knew he had a lot to think about and a crucial decision to make.

He was dragged out of his thoughts and became instantly on guard as he saw Zero walk up the ramp, slipping behind a concrete pillar just in time to avoid the man seeing him. He looked out from behind it and watched as Zero, carrying a large messenger bag, headed through one of the stairwell exits and disappeared from sight.

Narrowing his eyebrows, Tōdō stepped out from behind the pillar and leant against it sideways. The car park under their building had two levels and the exits were only accessible from the top level. Zero had come from the bottom, but in the hours he had been down there, Tōdō had only seen a single green sedan enter – a minute or two earlier.

It was almost a certainty that Zero was the one driving the car. But where could it have come from? It wasn't a vehicle belonging to the Order of the Black Knights; that was for sure. Tōdō would have known if it was. In his years of military service, both as a leader and a soldier, he knew that there were some things that needed to be kept from your subordinates if you want to be an effective leader. A vehicle was an expensive asset, however; with seemingly no real purpose behind purchasing it, the two most obvious scenarios were equally frightening.

Either Zero was doing something behind their backs or he no longer cared for their cause.

Tōdō's train of thought was cut off immediately by the sound of a car driving up from the bottom level. He ducked back behind the pillar and watched in a state of semi-shock as the same green sedan he had seen earlier headed up the second ramp to the exit.

He had been down there for twenty minutes and hadn't seen a single person other than the driver of the car – he was certain there was only one occupant – enter. Zero had gone, so who was driving the vehicle? He was Tōdō Kyōshirō – one of the most highly trained soldiers in the world. For him not to notice somebody within less than a hundred metres of him was virtually impossible. He may have been somewhat distracted, but he doubted his awareness would suffer enough for that to happen.

He'd spent the last two hours in one of the Order of the Black Knights' vehicles trying to come to a decision with no result, but this latest development was enough to tip the scales. Something had to be done about Zero. If it meant killing him and taking the mask himself, he would do it.

For Japan.

It wasn't hard to catch up to Zero, who was about to leave through the building's main entrance. That, in itself, was suspicious to Tōdō – why would he bother parking the car in one of the Black Knights' buildings if he was planning to leave anyway?

Making himself seem inconspicuous in the back corner of the large hall, he watched as Zero entered the small cloakroom near the doors and retrieved a black trench coat with a hood. It was unrealistic to expect that Zero could live in an urban area without exposing himself in public, so members of the Black Knights commonly wore heavy, hooded coats so that the choice in clothing would be associated with the entire group, not just with Zero. If it did end up associated with Zero, it would be no less discreet than if he wore his mask in public.

He followed from a manageable distance, paying careful attention to the reaction Zero was receiving from people who passed him. They weren't able to differentiate him from any of the other Black Knights, of course, but Tōdō paid attention to every sideways glance. He had been far too careless dealing with Zero; it was possible that the public might have realised something that he hadn't.

A few blocks later, Zero stopped at a café and took a seat near the back. Tōdō immediately crossed the road and sat in the window of another café. He deliberately chose a seat with the majority of its view blocked by a large neon light, although he could see through the gaps easily enough.

Zero pulled out a second chair opposite him and held up two fingers to a waitress. _'Probably ordering coffees,'_ Tōdō thought. _'But why two? Is he meeting somebody?'_

The waitress returned with the two coffees and Zero accepted them, placing one in front of him and one on the table in front of the other chair. Five minutes had passed, yet still nobody had shown up. Zero sat suspiciously still for almost fifteen minutes, seemingly uninterested in either coffee. Eventually he stood up and made to leave.

Tōdō watched him go with a raised eyebrow. _'He was definitely meeting somebody behind our backs, but it looks like they decided not to show. The question is, who was it?'_

He quickly stood and followed Zero. After four blocks and two corners, he found himself entering a fairly dense park. _'Was this the secondary rendezvous location, or is he meeting somebody else?'_

It was in that moment that he realised he had allowed himself to get too close. Zero stood silently in front of him, within talking range and staring down into the small river he was standing next to. There was no point hiding now: Zero knew he was there.

"Who were you meeting?" Tōdō demanded. His teeth were firmly clenched in anger and a clear threat hanging in his voice.

"You."

Of all the replies he had expected, that was not one of them. His own mind had formed some guesses, notably "Schneizel" and "Kanon," but he was willing to consider almost anyone – anyone but himself.

"Don't lie to me, Zero."

"I am not lying," Zero stated plainly. He had yet to turn around and face him. "I received warning of your presence before I arrived. I knew you would follow me."

Tōdō snorted. "Enough of your games. Who were you meeting?"

"I even bought you a coffee. Don't you like coffee?"

There was something different about Zero, he realised. The Zero he knew was confident, but not to this extent. The depth of Zero's planning, if the story about giving him the opportunity to stop stalking him were true, was also far more cunning than anything he'd seen from Zero since the days of Lelouch. He had a theory, but he didn't like it.

"You've been hiding yourself from us," he accused.

"Hiding myself?"

Tōdō took a step forward, bringing him to within an arm's reach from his rogue leader. "You have been deliberately neglecting the Order of the Black Knights. The skill you've shown today is far above and beyond what you have been consistently applying towards our goals."

"I see. What do you believe I am doing?"

He seemed calm. Unnaturally calm. It was not the response which would be expected from somebody caught betraying their comrades.

Tōdō narrowed his eyebrows. "You are creating your own resistance force. You have abandoned the Order of the Black Knights."

"That is correct," Zero replied instantly, turning around to face him. "I no longer have any use for the Order of the Black Knights."

Tōdō had been confident in his theory, but actually hearing it confirmed felt like a punch in the stomach.

"You're serious." It wasn't a question.

"I've had this planned well before I met you. I fully intended to dispose of the Order of the Black Knights from the very beginning."

Tōdō reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of knives, switching one into his other hand. He didn't want to do what he was about to, but it seemed like he was quickly running out of options.

"Who are they?" he demanded, raising one of his knives and pointing it at Zero's throat.

Zero didn't even flinch. "What do you mean?"

"I told you, Zero! Don't play games with me!" His hand shook with barely repressed rage. Everything he had worked for was turning to dust before his eyes, and the man responsible wouldn't even give him enough respect to dispense with the childish mind games.

"You will be a member of my resistance force, as will Chiba Nagisa," Zero informed him, opening his bag and withdrawing two brown parcels. He handed them over one by one. "This one is Chiba's. This one is yours. You will find instructions inside the package. Tell nobody else."

Tōdō accepted the packages – having been quite literally placed on his arms – for lack of anything else to do. His glare, however, only intensified. "You make it sound like I have no choice. What makes you think that I would desire to join a traitor like you after what I've heard today?"

"That is because you have no choice," the voice of Zero boomed back at him, eerily reminiscent of the old Zero – Lelouch. "We have power that the people of the world will never have. For years they have struggled for freedom, but they are ultimately asking for something they cannot achieve themselves. We are bound by the People's Wish. This is our duty, for the sake of the world's future."

Tōdō took a step backwards. "So you are still fighting for the same reasons."

"You must do what is right for the world. That is the only choice," Zero replied, ignoring him and beginning to walk away. After a few steps he stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Don't be late."

* * *

**Room 277**

**Tokyo Settlement International Hotel**

Shirley sat at a desk against the wall twirling her pen. A fairly detailed section of Zero Requiem lay on the table next to her notepad, written in her own handwriting with red annotations between the lines and in the margins. To minimise risk, never would the entire plan be documented at any one time; both Lelouch and herself had memorised the entire contents well enough to be able to reproduce the key points verbatim at will. Instead, when it was necessary, they would write out a section of the plan for adaptation and burn it before moving onto the next. These sections were known as "Phases."

She had never been a stupid girl. She had maintained consistently high grades back at Ashford Academy and was quite good at chess for a beginner, but she would never come close to Lelouch's strategic ability. Zero Requiem was, in its entirety, beyond her, but she quickly found that immediate tactics came far more easily. With Lelouch's role stretching him far more thinly than her at most times, she had ample time to devote to preparing contingency plans for anything which could possibly go wrong. Her plans were never anywhere close to perfect, like the ones in Zero Requiem were, but it was quantity, not quality, which was critical when it came to contingency plans; given a wide choice of options, Lelouch would easily be able to select the best within seconds and improve it on the fly.

A sound at the door drew her attention, the doorknob rattling as though somebody was either opening it with a key or checking if it was unlocked. She quickly hid her papers and made her way across the room. Lelouch would have taken a gun, but she refused to take a life. Not until she had no other choice. Before the month was out, she would have blood on her hands and Zero Requiem would be unstoppable.

The door swung open and closed, locking itself as C.C. limped in, supported by a man in a dark, hooded coat. Shirley tensed for a moment, but relaxed when she saw the light reflect off a gold plate underneath the hood.

"Jeremiah?"

The man in question let go of C.C. and pulled the hood off his head, staring at Shirley in bewilderment. "You're that girl Rolo killed at Ikebukuro, aren't you? How are you alive?"

"I wasn–"

"–Where is His Highness Lelouch?" Jeremiah almost demanded, his eyes flickering around the room, but not finding the one he had sworn his allegiance to for all time.

Shirley took a step backwards, eyes wide open in fear. She'd never met Jeremiah Gottwald, but she'd seen pictures of him and heard Lelouch speak of his exploits. She'd also caught sight of him once or twice as he ran through Ikebukuro Station, trying to kill Lelouch. It was all too easy for her to reconcile that man with the one standing before her and, even though she knew he would be arriving that day, seeing him up close was a whole lot scarier to her than discussing his involvement with Lelouch.

"He's out. Take me to the bed," C.C. requested airily. She took a few steps by herself before falling and being caught by Jeremiah.

"She's lost a lot of blood," he told them, grunting slightly as he lifted her up. He carried her over to the bed and laid her down, taking a seat by her side. "She's been shot in the head. I'm not moving until I can speak with Lelouch."

C.C. sat up. "He will be back later today. He has things to attend to."

Jeremiah placed his palm on her chest and gently pushed her back down. "You need to rest. Even if you _are_ immortal, you need time to recuperate from a bullet wound."

She snorted at him and pushed his hand away. "You're hundreds of years too young to be telling _me_ to rest."

He was saved from having to insist as she lay down once again and rolled onto her side, facing away from him. Her behaviour was very childish for somebody who had just claimed to be wise beyond his years. It was a wonder Lelouch had put up with the woman for so long.

"Jeremiah," Shirley began hesitantly. "Lelouch is sorry for deceiving you and he…um…"

This time it was his turn to snort. "If Lelouch was sorry for every person he deceived, he'd never get anything done."

"Then you don't–"

"If he is alive, then it doesn't matter. It's my duty to serve him."

Shirley was about to respond when the doorhandle shook again and it opened, admitting two more men in hooded coats. Suzaku quickly slipped off his coat, oblivious to Jeremiah's presence.

"Suzaku?"

"Jeremiah?" he ventured curiously, looking up at the sound of the man's voice. "Lelouch said you'd be here at some point, but he didn't tell me you were already here. I guess he didn't want to contact me any more than necessary."

"Actually, I brought him in today. Lelouch has been busy with The Hangar over the past few days," C.C. commented, sitting up and showing that she was clearly wide awake.

Jeremiah pushed her straight back down again. "You need to rest."

Suzaku chuckled and Shirley let out a small giggle at the frustrated expression on Jeremiah's face and the irritated one on C.C.'s, drawing both of their attentions simultaneously. C.C. rolled back over onto her side and Jeremiah fixed a suspicious glare on the man standing next to Suzaku, who still hadn't spoken.

"Who is that?"

Suzaku made to respond, but the man held a hand out to silence him, unbuttoning his coat and dropping it to the floor.

Leaping to his feet, Jeremiah snarled and allowed the bloody spike to extend out of his arm. "Maldini! What's going on here?"

"It's been a long time since you called me Kanon, Jeremiah," he replied softly.

"Those days ended when you sided with Schneizel, Maldini!"

Suzaku held out his own hand to placate Jeremiah. "He's on our side now."

Jeremiah scoffed. "Maldini is loyal to Schneizel and Schneizel only. Why would he, of all people, turn against him?"

"Let's just say Schneizel wasn't who I thought he was," Kanon replied sadly.

Suzaku nodded and Jeremiah reluctantly disengaged his weapon, accepting the explanation at face value for the moment. The other occupants of the room turned to Kanon and gave him sad, but supportive, smiles. They knew how deep Schneizel's betrayal of his trust was; it wasn't a nice feeling to know that they were the ones who shattered his idealised perception of the man, but it wasn't fair to leave him in the dark.

"It's been too long to start calling you 'Kanon' again, Maldini," Jeremiah said, sitting down again. His voice was laced with almost none of the disgust it had previously held, but contained a little of something else: hurt.

"Did the switch work out okay, Suzaku?" Shirley asked, hesitantly trying to draw the focus away from Kanon and Jeremiah. "You took a long time."

Suzaku sat down on the couch. "Tōdō came down and sat in the back of one of the Black Knights' vans while I was waiting for Lelouch in the basement. He didn't see me, but he was at the bottom of the ramp, so I couldn't leave. I sent a message to Lelouch telling him to wait until Tōdō was about to leave, but he ended up staying for hours."

Kanon shrugged. "Lelouch and I got something to eat while we were waiting."

Suzaku was about to retort an indication of his jealousy, but pulled up short when he saw the blood seeping into the bed spreads under C.C. and caked on Jeremiah's sleeves. He jumped up off the couch and rushed over to the bed. "Blood? Who's bleeding? Why?"

"Relax, Suzaku," C.C. said, sitting up to speak to him. Jeremiah tried to push her back down, concerned that she'd injure herself again, but she swatted him away. "Some Britannian soldiers shot me. I'll be fine."

After checking that she wasn't missing any limbs or anything like that, Suzaku nodded and sat back down on the couch, allowing his heart rate to return to its regular rhythm. He supposed he shouldn't have worried too much. Between an immortal 'witch' – as Lelouch called her – and a seemingly invincible cyborg who could very well be immortal as well, a few drops of blood were hardly a cause for concern.

For the first time since entering, Suzaku had a chance to look around. Since the thwarted execution, he had been busy with making the necessary preparations within the Order of the Black Knights and familiarising himself with the changes Lelouch had made to Zero Requiem, so he hadn't seen the hotel room before.

A desk was set against the side wall – on the same side as the couch he sat on – and the large bed hosting C.C. and Jeremiah was to his left, against the far wall of the room. The wall opposite him was made up of floor-to-roof, heavily tinted windows. Doors to the kitchen, bathroom and a second bedroom were next to the desk. It was evident that Lelouch had avoided getting one of the best suites – if they were found out, the search would likely begin from the most expensive rooms first – but he had definitely made sure that they would be comfortable. It would still have cost a lot of money to stay in, but something told Suzaku that Lelouch had no intention of ever paying any hotel bill.

Suzaku creased his eyebrows and looked at the room's occupants as it fell silent, each person locked within their thoughts. C.C. had been pushed back onto her side by Jeremiah, perhaps more aggressively than she would have liked, but Jeremiah wasn't one to care for gentleness. Jeremiah himself was outright glaring at Kanon, who was still standing in the centre of the room and avoiding his gaze with a mixture of guilt and sadness on his face. Shirley stood near the door, trying to think of something to say which would ease the tension.

Jeremiah was the first to break the silence. "Where is Lelouch? You still haven't proven that you're actually working with him."

"They are. Lelouch told me I would be staying here with them," Kanon replied smoothly, causing Suzaku's response to die in his throat.

"This has nothing to do with you, Maldini."

Kanon was slightly taken aback at the icy tone, although he had been expecting something along those lines.

"Please," Shirley interjected, taking a few steps towards them. "Don't fight. Can't you be friends?"

"Not with this man," Jeremiah immediately replied. Kanon's face fell a little further.

"Please, we need everybody to work together."

It took several minutes of pleading on Shirley's part to convince him that he needed to tolerate Kanon's presence – though by no means be 'friends' with him, as Shirley had suggested – to achieve Lelouch's goals and, even then, it was only on the condition that Lelouch would later give the order himself.

Lying on her side and facing away from the others, C.C. opened an eye as they managed to come to an agreement. A slight smirk began to form on her face.

All of their pieces were coming together.

Zero Requiem would not be denied its purpose.

* * *

**Tokyo Docks**

It was early morning by the time Lelouch returned to The Hangar, parking one of his many 'borrowed' cars in a back corner and covering it with a black sheet. He'd been forced to leave a few of them under the Order of the Black Knights' headquarters for situations such as these, where he had been forced to hand his current vehicle over to Suzaku during a changeover.

A small steel door at the side of The Hangar allowed him to exit the building without having to open the bulky front doors; with his Geass he had made sure that those who would usually patrol the area at night had been made to ignore anything unusual, but added precautions were necessary in case of something he had not anticipated.

Lelouch was pleased that Laroque had allowed him to select the meeting place. It said a lot for the man's trust in him that he was unconcerned about a potential ambush. Then again, they had never agreed to come unarmed, so he was potentially quite dangerous even by himself. It was not a concession Lelouch ever liked to make, at any rate; there had rarely been a time in the last few years when he had not carried a pistol on him for added security.

He sped up his steps. The meeting was to take place in a similar building to The Hangar, but on the opposite side of the docks. He would have chosen The Hangar, but there were things there which he didn't want anybody to see until it was necessary – especially somebody of unconfirmed allegiance.

The area was silent when he arrived, save for his own quiet footsteps. He walked around to the back and entered a code into the number pad next to the door. He had acquired this building, along with a few others, at the same time as The Hangar in case he ever needed it for any reason. Only he, and now Laroque, knew the entry code, having surrendered it over the phone when suggesting the building as a meeting place.

'_He's here already,'_ Lelouch noted, seeing the figure standing near the back of the dimly-lit building. He walked calmly towards it, the click of his shoes against the hard floor echoing throughout the large shed.

"Laroque."

"Zero."

The first thing Lelouch noticed about the cloaked man was the mask. It was ovular in shape and slightly larger than the average head, but that was almost all that was notable about it. Its purpose didn't seem to be intimidation, but rather solely to conceal identity. Instead of artistic shaping and designs, it was coloured entirely in black. There were no eyeholes, either; he appeared to be able to see without them, just as Lelouch could.

"It's been a while."

Laroque remained silent for a moment, although he appeared to be staring at him intently. "We've never met."

"Of course you would say that," Lelouch responded, smirking behind his mask. "It's true, I guess; I've never met you as you are now."

"How did you find me? My identity isn't exactly common knowledge," Laroque asked quickly, as though he had been waiting to hear the answer for some time. "Although with both Schneizel and yourself knowing it, maybe it is."

"I didn't begin to seriously track you down until a few years ago. Even with my abilities and resources, it was almost impossible to find more than a vague trail of deregistered internet accounts and deactivated credit cards, both under pseudonyms," Lelouch began, a barely-detectable hint of frustration in his voice. "You have been extremely cautious of anybody associating you with your old self, haven't you?"

Laroque turned his head to one side. "I wanted to live my life without the threat of Britannia hanging over my shoulder. I wanted to forget about 'Laroque.'"

Lelouch acknowledged his motives with a nod and continued. "When I finally did track you down, I was pleasantly surprised to find you so close to home: in Japan. I had anticipated travelling to Britannia or Europe in order to convince you to offer your services to my cause, but, with you in Japan, everything was far easier. I had more time, of course, but I also had the opportunity to attempt to discover your views on the war. Were you on our side or would I have to convince you to reject Britannia? It wasn't until two years ago when I not only had my answer, but also a face to go with the name 'Laroque' – something I had been seeking for a long time."

Laroque remained silent, listening carefully to everything Lelouch revealed before he made any sort of response.

"Who would have thought that the former Knight of One would have considered the Battle of Narita, where Britannia was humiliated by the Order of the Black Knights, to be as favourable as you did?"

"I was wrong!" Laroque finally interjected heatedly, his voice echoing off the walls. "I'm not naïve enough to think that wasn't what was needed, but too many people were killed in that landslide for what was accomplished."

Lelouch didn't miss his use of the word 'we.'

"I've lost almost all of my friends because of this war," Laroque finished sadly, his voice only a fraction of the volume it had been before.

Neither of them spoke for a few moments. Laroque was too caught up in his misfortune to respond and Lelouch was perfectly content to stand there and analyse him. He seemed human, that was for sure, but he was not acting as expected. Lelouch thought he would either be somewhat carefree or a hardened warrior, but he seemed to be stuck in between, as though he hadn't yet decided who he was.

"What if I told you that I could bring them back?" Lelouch asked slowly, but confidently, staring straight at the general location of his eyes.

The man in front of him remained silent. He seemed to be ignoring the question until Lelouch caught sight of his fist tensing by his side. "No…Nobody should have that kind of power, Zero."

"You have it yourself," Lelouch replied with a chuckle. "Geass."

Laroque was completely taken aback. "How did you know that?"

He was vulnerable. He had weaknesses. He wasn't the kind of warrior who could strike fear into the hearts of his enemies without his knightmare and his name.

Good.

Lelouch didn't want him to become a monster again, but he would need to remember how to kill before they ran out of time. Zero didn't need another leader; he needed a soldier – somebody whose abilities would win them the war.

With Laroque on his side, he would be three pieces away from becoming invincible.

"You were never part of the original plan, but after hearing about the Special Trainees – about you – I began to gather information."

"What do you know?" he asked warily.

"Your parents were half French and half Britannian," Lelouch began slowly, testing the waters. "Your mother never cared much for Britannia, but your father was as patriotic as they came. Since the moment you were born, he raised you as a weapon."

Laroque winced audibly. Some scars could never quite disappear.

"Not just any weapon, either – Britannia's weapon. He enlisted you with the Special Trainees alongside Anya Alstreim to undergo intense military training and psychological modification," Lelouch continued. Another man might have shivered at the thought of what sort of 'psychological modification' procedures Charles Zi Britannia might have employed and to what ends, but Lelouch was unfazed. "Your mother tried to stop your father, but was only able to achieve a compromise: you would wear a mask – the one you are wearing now – and allow nobody to know more than your surname, save for the Emperor. It was her hope that you would one day escape the Britannian military. You did."

"How do you know all of this?" he replied, his voice laced with suspicion.

"She talked."

Lelouch watched in amusement as Laroque's stance shifted from indicating confusion, to shock and, finally, to fury. He had controlled the conversation from the very beginning, allowing him to script almost every word in advance. Mao, Schneizel and now Laroque – there wasn't a person in the world who was anything less than transparent before his omniscient eyes.

"It was you?" he growled, stepping towards Lelouch. His hand snapped to his pocket and withdrew a pistol, releasing the safety and placing the tip against the forehead of the Zero mask with an audible click. Lelouch showed no reaction; he had anticipated this. "You tortured my mother? You're the one who killed her?"

"No, Schneizel got there first. I extracted my information from one of his officers."

Lelouch smirked underneath his mask. Shirley would be disappointed in him for playing on the man's thirst for revenge, but she wasn't there. Laroque would not turn him down now – not when he was offering a chance to avenge his mother.

Laroque drew the pistol back just enough to click it against the mask of Zero again, reaffirming his intentions if he received an inadequate answer. "Then you were planning on torturing her to discover information about me?"

"I had planned to ask her a few questions, but I have ways of extracting information which do not require torture."

Laroque removed the pistol and held it by his side, keeping the safety disengaged. "Geass."

Lelouch ignored him. "One year before the invasion of Japan, you were brought before the Emperor and asked to become a test subject. Charles Zi Britannia wanted to identify a set of characteristics a person required to be assured of receiving a Geass suited to military application and, ultimately, be able to predict what sort of Geass any particular person would receive."

"It would have given him an invincible army," Laroque agreed with a slight shiver. "He would have access to any ability he ever wanted and be able to keep the number of active Geass users to a minimum. Anybody who would receive a Geass that may have been a threat to him would not be given one."

"If the test was successful and you received a military-biased Geass, he would have V.V. also bestow one upon, then Knight of Five, Bismarck Waldstein," Lelouch continued, giving a slight nod to acknowledge Laroque's understanding of the former Emperor's goals. "It was far more successful than planned, however. Your Geass allowed Britannia to reach the fourth age of knightmare development a full decade earlier than expected. The world was caught off-guard and Britannia conquered the majority of it with virtually no resistance. You were given the title of Knight of One less than a month after receiving your Geass."

Lelouch waited for a moment in silence. If he had read the situation correctly, Laroque would take up the story from here. He had rarely been wrong in the past and this would prove no exception. A smirk graced his lips as his predictions became reality and confirmed what he had known from the start: the entire meeting had been a mere formality.

"I led many of the assaults on Japan. My knightmare, the Merlin, was untouchable in battle; it was the most powerful frame every made," Laroque began slowly, regret and pain intertwined throughout his voice. "They never give you time to think in the army: you will begin to question both them and yourself. I killed hundreds of people and caused thousands more to die, but I never received anything other than praise. My mother had left my father and fled the country months earlier so I…"

He faltered.

"…I killed my father and escaped, taking my mother's maiden name. They call me 'The Deserter' now. You already knew that, though, didn't you?"

Lelouch nodded. "Yes."

"I've been in wars before, Zero. It took me years to regain my humanity, sometimes having to pretend to be something I'm not, so I thought that I could avoid this war like the last two you have waged."

"War is not something which should be avoided by those who believe in something," Lelouch declared, the booming voice of Zero echoing off the walls in the darkened building.

"I know," Laroque replied firmly.

"You once said that you'd protect everyone from me. That was never necessary, but it appeared that you had lost the will to fight. It pleases me that you have not."

Laroque nodded, slipping the pistol back into his pocket. "If I was to join you, you would need to give me something."

"What?"

He took a moment to collect his thoughts. "I know you can't really give me my friends back, but I need to be assured that we will win; I will not kill again for nothing."

Lelouch chuckled, the soft grating sound emanating from behind his mask quickly morphing into an eerie full blown laugh that would have pierced the nerves of the toughest man. "You underestimate me. It is true that I do not have the power to bring back the dead, but I can give you both what you are asking for and what you have already given up on."

Lelouch could almost hear the man's heartbeat as he slowly moved his hand to his mask; it was well known that not even the Black Knights themselves were permitted to look upon Zero's true face. He schooled his expression into the very picture of neutrality and released the locking mechanism, dropping the mask dramatically at his feet.

"Le–" Laroque began, taking a step backwards in shock. He raised a visibly shaking hand and pointed it towards him. "–Lelouch?"

"Will you join me?" Lelouch asked firmly, his voice exuding raw power even without the amplifier embedded in his mask. "I ask you this, former Knight of One…"

A glint flashed in the back of his eyes.

"…Rivalz Laroque."

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**A/N: I passed 100,000 words for the first time! CELEBRAAAATIOOOON! :D**

**Oh wow, I've been waiting to write that last scene since I began this fic! I had so many lines to use but I kept forgetting some and remembering others! GAH! **

**Soo...DID ANYBODY SEE IT COMING? XD XD XD  
**

**Oh yeah! Mid year exams are finally over! So are all of my assessments for the rest of the term, leaving me with one more week of no-stress school and two weeks of holidays in which to work on this! :)**

**Sorry it took so long, but I got it out as fast as I could! The next couple shouldn't take this long (hopefully)! :D  
**

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**What I would like to hear about if you decide to review:**

**Character Impressions:**

**1) Tōdō****: I'm not sure if I've written from his perspective before (although I might have for a few lines in Phase 6 :S), so I have no idea how he turned out. I tried to make his characterisation very direct and less focussed on emotions, which made me also decide to have Lelouch take a more authoritative stance when dealing with him.  
**

**2) Sayoko and Nunnally: A number of my reviewers (see! I pay attention! ;P) pointed out that I've been neglecting these two a fair bit, so I tried to work them in. I _think_ I was successful in that, but I'm not entirely sure how well they, particularly Sayoko, came out. :S**

**3) Rivalz: Quite a few people will probably disagree with my characterisation of him, but I tried to make it seem as though the Rivalz we know is what he became after years to recuperate from the effects of the Britannian military. With war looming over them once again and him likely being dragged into it, his old personality tried to resurface, leading to the slight schizophrenia he experienced this chapter. **

**It was horribly taxing to keep his personality as true to canon as possible without revealing his identity before schedule (OMG SOMBODY ACTUALLY GUESSED THIS WAY BACK IN PHASE 7 OR SOMETHING! :O), but I did the best I possibly could. :)**

**Oh and don't worry, we won't lose the Rivalz we know (and love) to the brainwashed Rivalz of the military! ;D  
**

**Theories:**

**4) More information has been revealed about Charles' goals, but what about Schneizel's? Everything is revealed in the next chapter, so this is your last chance to guess what Schneizel has been up to! ;D  
**

**5) Who/what are the three pieces Lelouch needs to "become invincible"?**

**6) What happened between Jeremiah and Kanon to make Jeremiah loathe him so much?**

**Other:**

**7) What does everybody think about Jeremiah/C.C.? Did anybody notice me work on the beginnings of it in this chapter? It will never become a full-blown relationship, but I like the idea of working up a bit of chemistry between the two. =D  
**

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**A/N: Next chapter features one or more characters we haven't seen for a _long_ time. It's also got some action in it, so keep your eyes peeled! :)  
**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter!  
**

**Cheers,**

**Lord Bear**


	14. Phase 14

**Unknown Location**

It had been a year since they had been captured.

Nina could feel her eyelids drooping as she typed, fighting desperately against her survival senses to secure a few more minutes of sleep. The dull throb of her headaches, too, had been steadily getting worse every day – every minute – since she had been captured, to the point where they had become a constant in her life. It was almost more than she could bear. Her forced insomnia was steadily killing her – sending her spiralling down towards her breaking point. She knew it was coming, but she could do nothing to stop it.

Hours after Lelouch's execution, she'd woken up underneath the Settlement and far away from the execution site with a Britannian Prince in her arms and absolutely no recollection of the past few minutes – or had it been hours? The fact that it had been Schneizel El Britannia made matters even worse for her – the same Schneizel El Britannia she had fought a war against.

His clothes were torn and even more ragged than before, she remembered, with his legs covered in scrapes and blood. It was clear that she'd been the one who escaped with him: he was unconscious and they were alone. She tried to run, dragging Schneizel with her for no reason other than a vague suspicion that he would know what had happened, but barely made it a few hundred metres before she was captured by Odysseus U Britannia and a squad of guards.

The man had kindly thanked her for rescuing his brother, patting her on the head with a smile. Her first impulse had been to run, but the sight of a gun in his other hand had forced that from her mind instantly. Instead, she had crumpled to the floor and sobbed uncontrollably for a few minutes – long enough for the guards to confirm that Schneizel was alive and for Odysseus to walk her away from the main group to question her.

His questioning was more consoling than interrogative, she had soon realised: before even asking for her version of events, he had jumped to conclusions and asked if she had truly been the one to save his brother. He seemed prepared to happily give her the benefit of the doubt, so she'd played along. She spun a story about how terribly she regretted giving in to Lelouch's threats after Schneizel had done so much for her – especially after Lelouch had been so cruel – and how she wanted to save Schneizel because he was the only one who could fix what Lelouch had done. She told him that she had waited for a lull in the crowd after Schneizel's body had been taken down and slipped away with it.

Truly, she had seen through Lelouch's deception before her bout of amnesia. His motivations were too familiar to her and her mind too sharp to miss his true goals, even before Zero had revealed himself at the execution. She couldn't tell Odysseus that, however. If she was right about Lelouch – and she was almost completely sure she was – then the world could not know.

Her next few days were spent in a high-class hotel room on the outskirts of the Settlement, paid for by Odysseus and guarded by a pair of his troops. From inside, the lavish interior and well-stocked bar made it appear far from a prison cell, but it functioned as one would just the same. She was not permitted to leave under any circumstances, the windows had been sealed shut and any communications devices – including the television – had been stripped from the room in a manner which she doubted was sanctioned by the hotel management.

Part of her had wanted to forget Zero, forget the war, forget FLEIJA and forget Lelouch; to just relax and enjoy the quiet room for all of its luxuries. Luxuries which would more than likely have been enjoyed by Euphe–

The other part of her refused to cut herself off from the world. She had always had an insatiable curiosity – something that had only accentuated throughout her career as a scientist – and it was painful to not know what was going on in the outside world, knowing that there were bound to have been repercussions from Lelouch's actions.

It was more painful to know that she did not know than to know everything she wanted to leave behind.

She couldn't leave it behind now, though. She couldn't _erase_.

Eventually she had been moved to a research facility in an armoured and guarded car. There was no way to be sure of where she was going, but she felt it couldn't have been more than a couple of hours total. At any rate, she was still in Japan. Probably still in Tokyo, too; though most likely somewhere on the outskirts.

This time it had been Schneizel to greet her, looking nothing like he had when she had unintentionally rescued him. In fact, he had seemed prouder than usual; more accomplished, perhaps. He told her that Lelouch had died; killed by the very persona he created. Schneizel seemed to take a particular pride in that fact, as if he had somehow influenced Lelouch to do what he had done.

Maybe he had.

The facility was clearly brand new, she had immediately noticed during the personal tour Schneizel had decided to give her. He spoke often, telling her that he had commissioned it for himself over the past year and that it was to be her home for the next year or more. She had suspected as much, but to hear it had cemented what she had already known: she would be forced to work for him. Unlike Odysseus, he had seemed suspicious of her story, but knew that she would not be able to deny him without recanting it.

Immediately her thoughts had turned to escape. Surely somebody would come for her? Nobody would come for her. Why would anybody come to rescue the woman who created FLEIJA? Even if there was somebody out there who would, they wouldn't know about the place she was in. Schneizel had been building it for a year in the middle of Japan and right under Lelouch's nose; if Lelouch couldn't find it, nobody would be able to.

For a moment she had entertained the possibility of simply running, but Schneizel had, only seconds later, casually mentioned that a few dozen soldiers and half a dozen knightmare frames were guarding the building. That idea shot down, she had immediately begun to devise some sort of a plan involving 'working on' a knightmare and, taking the guards by surprise, using it to escape. Again, Schneizel, while explaining her duties, had managed to derail her train of thought by specifying that all machinery tests would be conducted under controlled conditions and scheduled in advance. It was as if he was reading her mind.

After her extended tour, she had been shown to a room which was fairly Spartan in appearance, although what little it contained was clearly of a high quality. It was to be hers for the duration of her stay and, while she could live in it comfortably in a physical sense, it was no more or less of a prison than if he'd simply thrown her into a cell. Of course, she'd be allowed – forced, even – to make the journey to and from her main laboratory daily for research purposes, but the constant presence of guards ensured that there would be little relief, save for the change in scenery.

The next morning she had arrived in the lab to find Cécile Croomy staring back at her from behind one of the screens atop the slightly raised platform on the far side of the enormous, warehouse-like room. Her two heavily-armed escorts had moved to the left of the room and taken up sentinel positions with seemingly no interest in what she did, leaving her free to run up to Cécile and let out a string of exuberant questions about why she was there.

The poor girl had been just as surprised to see Nina as Nina had been to see her, but eventually she had been able to explain that herself, Lloyd and Rakshata were all transferred by Schneizel's men during the execution. On the day, she hadn't understood why they weren't up for execution with everyone else, but now it seemed that Schneizel had been able to pull some strings in advance and keep them alive for capturing.

True to her word that Lloyd and Rakshata were in the same situation, both had entered the room within a minute of each other. Nina could quite clearly remember the agitation creeping into Lloyd's seemingly-serene visage as she told her story. He clearly had no intention of following Schneizel at all, but didn't explicitly make his thoughts known at that time.

For the next ten months, they maintained a steady work rate without accomplishing anything that might be construed as useful. A replica of the Lancelot Albion stood on the right side of the room, opposite the two sentinel guards, in a state as close to complete as possible without being operable. Schneizel had 'requested' that one be made and gave them no choice to comply, but Lloyd had been non-committal when asked for a completion date. The Core Luminous had become Lloyd's most useful ploy for setting back the completion date: 'important research' would often require the use – and usually the destruction of – Sakuradite, preventing the Core Luminous from being built.

Lloyd seemed to see it as some sort of game to push Schneizel as far as he could. Since they didn't seem to be going anywhere and the facility, despite being mostly off-limits to them, seemed to be specifically designed to house them, he assumed that they were indispensible and began making his own requests of Schneizel. At first it was for small things, excess materials here and there, but eventually he began to request more obscure and expensive items, some for his own private research and others to make sure that Schneizel couldn't follow what he was doing. Rakshata didn't seem to disapprove, occasionally joining him in his ventures, but usually restrained herself to making small, deliberately useless changes to the physical makeup of the Lancelot Albion. If nothing else, Lloyd's bubbly demeanour when trying to justify his requests to the guards in technical-sounding nonsense talk was a rare source of amusement in their comparatively dull lives.

Schneizel had only visited them once in the first six months, a visit which he spent reviewing their performance and calmly agreeing with Lloyd's reasoning for needing two Maser Vibration Swords fused at the tip – they didn't have the equipment to do it themselves – in the same way an adult would humour a child. To their surprise, the unorthodox dual-MVS sabre arrived a week later and was, as they had anticipated, completely useless. Cécile had positioned it horizontally across the front of the Lancelot, each hand holding a hilt, so it would at least look like they had done something with it if the perpetually silent guards were giving reports.

It was his second visit, soon after the ten month mark, which had changed everything. Lloyd had anticipated another easy sell and was in the middle of giving a full reasoning as to why he would require a cubic metre of solid gold, when Schneizel's demeanour took a complete turnaround. Far from his usual calm and collected façade, his eyes had narrowed during Lloyd's speech and his mouth had taken on a deep scowl.

Nina could clearly remember Schneizel silence Lloyd with a hand gesture and walk past him towards the main work area, flanked by the extra pair of guards he had brought with him. The room had been completely silent for almost fifteen minutes, save for the shuffling of paper as Schneizel looked over every one of the weekly reports they had been told to detail their research results in. He was less than impressed.

She wasn't quite sure of the specifics of what happened next. She remembered a lot of screaming – some of it quite possibly her own – and then something had knocked her unconscious, but the rest was a blur. Rakshata was sitting next to her when she had awoken, with Lloyd lying down on the other side of a dark room and Cécile nowhere in sight. Her first instinct was to shout in panic, but Rakshata had clamped a hand down over her mouth and pointed to the clearly unconscious Lloyd, signalling with her other hand for Nina to be silent.

Her memories of that conversation had been almost as hazy as her recollection of the night before it; she remembered Rakshata telling her that Schneizel had taken Cécile and Lloyd had been – she could barely even think the word – tortured. Rakshata and herself had been thrown into the sole room connected to the laboratory that they had never been permitted to enter – a small, cold and dark room with three wooden beds. The stone floor had merely added to the prison-like atmosphere. In all likelihood, Schneizel had planned this well in advance, right down to the number of beds required. He was certainly the type to do something like that.

Lloyd never spoke to her about what Schneizel had done to him – he had probably confided in Rakshata – but the injuries were there for all to see. Four fingers on his left hand were broken, as was his left arm in two places and a pair of what looked like cigarette burns were on his shoulder blade. A long cut ran from the top of his forehead, straight down the centre of his face and stopped on his chin. It would never be the kind of battle scar that you could awe people with, but it would be a constant reminder, regardless.

From that day forward, he had been a changed man. His cheery attitude had almost completely given way to a cold focus that had caught Nina completely off guard. This calloused demeanour faded after a few weeks, returning to his regular, serene attitude, but there was a hint of something else behind it. It seemed forced, even.

When they'd first arrived, he'd become the unofficial leader of their team – Rakshata had been more subdued than her regular self – and taken responsibility for their research projects. Originally he had been against Schneizel, encouraging them to spend the majority of their time researching more theoretical ideas to be used against him when they had escaped, yet to throw Schneizel a bone occasionally with a minor invention or enhancement; now he had told them that they would be researching anything that could be of military use, leaving nothing for Schneizel. Before, he had encouraged them to work at a deliberately slow rate; now, he was both working more furiously than she had ever seen him and expecting them to do the same.

He never mentioned the orders he had given them, but he never took back his words, delving deeper and deeper into his research.

Nina raised her head off the keyboard and half-heartedly deleted the string of letters she had accidentally typed with it. Lloyd was working them to the bone, tearing through resources and pages of reports faster than she had previously thought possible. Their funding had almost completely dried up and they were down to the last vestiges of their Sakuradite stores. Over the past few days, she had begun to worry that their usefulness was coming to an end; if they still refused to submit any of their results and were wasting Schneizel's money, he was likely to cut them loose and have them killed outright. She never voiced her concerns, however, but she did question the rapid dissipation of funding, despite their limited ability to use it for trade from their captivity. Lloyd had silenced her immediately, making it very clear that she shouldn't mention it again.

He had seemed odd over the past few days, she thought, turning around on her chair to stare at the back of his head. It was as if he was waiting for something, or anticipating it at least. Yet he continued typing away, seemingly immune to the exhaustion that was threatening to overcome her and, to a lesser degree, Rakshata. The other woman was sitting at the terminal next to Nina, both facing out towards the main floor of the room, while Lloyd remained captivated by the screen embedded in the wall a few feet behind them.

A barely perceptible rumbling in the distance caught Nina off-guard. Had she actually heard something, or were her ears fooling her? A quick glance at her companions revealed that Lloyd seemed to have heard it too, but Rakshata was still oblivious, taking a weary sip of her coffee. Lloyd went to speak, but was cut off by a much louder sound, this time along with the sound of knightmare fire.

"Oh? Looks like someone's here!" Lloyd commented excitedly, his bubbly nature genuinely showing through for the first time in weeks.

Another rumbling.

"Put everything onto a portable drive," he commanded, barely changing his tone at all despite the order he had given. He followed his own instructions his left hand and began to execute a particularly nasty code on the next terminal with his other. "If this is who I think it is, we need to work fast. If it isn't…" He left the sentence hanging.

The closest guard to them had his rifle pointed directly between Nina's eyes as she scrambled to complete the task Lloyd had dictated to them, while his partner trained his much larger weapon on the main entrance to the large facility, preparing to fire at the first knightmare through the door. Neither moved from their positions, despite the actions of their captives: their armour was several inches thick and built to resist knightmare fire, not for easy mobility.

Rakshata was the first to finish her backup, ejecting a disc and whirling around just as the others were finishing theirs. A few keystrokes from Lloyd later and every screen in the room flickered blue, before falling dark.

"Nina, I –" Whatever Rakshata was going to say was cut off by the sound of a slash harken piercing through the main doors and pulling taught like an anchor. Within seconds, the door had been blown open and a Vincent Ward sped into the room, flanked by two others.

The guard closest to the three scientists was moving immediately, taking advantage of his partner's focus on the invading machinery to stride over and press his rifle into one of the small gaps in the man's armour – their only vulnerable points. A shot later and he crumpled to the floor, the bullet to the back of his neck killing him instantly.

Nina screamed at the cold-hearted betrayal, while Rakshata acted instantly and pulled her two companions under one of the desks, for fear they would be the next targets. The knightmare pilots were yet to fire a shot, content to watch as the remaining guard – the one who had fired the bullet – pulled off his helmet and placed a pistol against his head.

Red-ringed eyes filled with sickly red blood as the bullet weaved its way into his brain.

Watching through gaps in the back of the desk, Nina flinched slightly as his body hit the floor, eyes wide in confusion. He'd killed himself? But that only…

Her thoughts were shoved aside as she felt Lloyd peer out over the top of the desk and begin to stand up. Latching onto his wrist in a panic, she tried to pull him back down; he could be killed! It was better to wait until they knew what was going on. She was about to say something to Lloyd – to tell him it was too dangerous – but Rakshata gripped her hand, urging her to calm down. Her eyes never once left Lloyd, staring at him as if she had just understood something. That look was enough for Nina to begin putting the pieces together and release her hold on him.

The two support knightmares spun around to fire upon an incoming frame, finishing it off with a slash harken from each that pierced through the cockpit. The pilot was dead even before the piece of machinery had slammed into a wall and exploded. Both of the intruders' frames remained focussed on the corridor, weapons at the ready to deal with the next wave of defence.

Their leader seemingly had no such concerns about security. Nina and Rakshata had crawled out from under the table and were now standing alongside Lloyd as the cockpit began to slowly eject. After an almost agonisingly long wait, a figure finally became visible to them, standing up at the back of the knightmare.

Nina flinched.

His presence was almost crushing in the lab, allowing silence free reign over the area. He stood to his full height, intimidating and reassuring to most, but not to Nina.

She could never forget the mask of Zero.

She knew exactly what it meant for them. He was here to take them away; there was no doubt about that. He would take them and force them to work on his technology – to be his own personal engineers – just as Schneizel had done. He would lock them away in a secret facility – just as Schneizel had done. He would check up on their progress and punish them if they didn't meet his expectations – just as Schneizel had done. And all the while he would present himself to the world as a bringer of peace and one who fights for the people's rights – just as Schneizel had done.

He sickened her – just as Schneizel had done.

"Ah, Zero!" Lloyd cried out enthusiastically, waving his hands around with a wide smile. "You got my message, then?"

So that was where their funds had disappeared to. Lloyd had used a bribe to get a message delivered to the Black Knights.

"Your retrieval had already been planned well in advance of receiving it, but I am grateful for your confidence in me all the same."

Nina shivered. It was the same voice Lelouch had spoken with when he was Zero. She'd watched him die, but it was still his voice coming from that terrifying mask.

Lloyd seemed to be somewhat taken aback, obviously not having expected that to be the case. He opened his mouth to respond, but was saved the trouble of formulating a response by Zero extending a hand and beckoning them closer. "Come. "

He and Rakshata immediately began to run towards Zero as the sound of gunfire echoed down the corridors and leaped into the open hand of his knightmare frame with the barest of hesitations.

Nina was not so quick to jump at the opportunity.

The man – no, the symbol – she hated more than any other in the world stood in front of her, offering her an escape to the life of servitude she was living. She knew that Lelouch had been Zero when he killed the one she loved, and so this Zero couldn't possibly have done the deed, but, in a way, that was no comfort. Lelouch had used Zero as a tool. All of Zero's goals had been working towards a 'greater good' as Lelouch saw it. This Zero was merely a shadow of what he had once been, yet he would still make sacrifices for a justice that fell well short of Lelouch's ambitions. If he…

Her hesitations cost her.

Dust swirled violently around the room, filling her vision before she could even identify where it had come from. Nina threw herself to the floor immediately as the gunfire broke out, yellow beams of energy flying over her head. _'They came in through the roof,'_ she realised, chancing a look up at the roof and seeing several holes that definitely hadn't been there before.

What was she supposed to do? She hated Zero, but she also hated Schneizel. At least Zero would fight for justice though, flawed as his sense of justice might have been without Lelouch. He may no longer have the right goal, but he had the means with which to accomplish something – and that was something that was useful to Nina.

That thought was louder in her head than any of the knightmare fire above her. What would it be useful for? What was it she wanted to do with her life? What would her contribution be, beyond the abomination that was FLEIJA? After so many years, the answer was finally becoming clear to her.

"I want to change the world," she whispered quietly to herself, drowning out sounds of the battle above her. "I understood Lelouch, but this Zero doesn't. His results would be meaningless if his justice is misplaced."

Nina slowly pulled herself to her feet and began to move towards Zero, ignoring the battle going on around her. Every one of her steps was purposeful. Every one of her steps was determined. Zero and his men had been pinned down by gunfire and couldn't get to her, but she could get to them, if only…

She spun her head to the side just in time to see the arm of a knightmare grab hold of her, almost crushing her ribcage.

It hurt so much that her head was spinning, but she had to break free – She had to reach Zero. 'I'll change the Order of the Black Knights from within! I'll change you…'

The knightmare holding her sped away, crashing through the back wall and leaving the Black Knights in the dust.

'_I'll change you…'_ she told herself, fighting hopelessly with the knightmare's iron grip as she screamed desperately for her sworn enemy.

"…ZERO!"

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**A/N: Been a while, eh? I'm really, really sorry it's taken this long, but no matter how many times I tried, I could never get more than a few lines out before drawing a blank or losing focus. It's really hard to come back to a story after all that time, so I'll do my best not to allow myself to break stride that badly again. I really need to re-read it, too; I've pretty much forgotten a lot of what's happened so far, especially the specifics. I'm sure there's plenty of you out there with good memory that know my story better than I do by now! I still have all of my plans, though! :P**

**Many apologies for the short chapter. This was originally only going to be half of it, but I really needed to get SOMETHING out, no matter how small it was. Kallen will have to be shoved back to next chapter, I guess. (Sorry!)**

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******What I would like to hear about if you decide to review:**

******1. Has my writing quality decreased over the gap? I'm really paranoid about this, so if there's anything I was doing before that I'm not now, could you please tell me! Thanks! :)**

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******A/N: **I'll do my best to put out another within the month! :)

**Happy New Year!**

**Lord Bear**


	15. Phase 15

**Room 277**

**Tokyo Settlement International Hotel**

"C.C…" Lelouch began, tilting his head to look over his shoulder at the green-haired woman. "Can I ask you something?"

"I'm too old for you, Lelouch," she responded dismissively, barely looking up from her position lying on the couch.

"Tch."

C.C. made no reply, ignoring him only to turn one of the pages of the book she held directly above her face, arms at full stretch. It was just the two of them in the apartment now: Shirley had taken Jeremiah and Kanon to book another room and settle them in, while Suzaku had left to make his way back to the Black Knights.

Lelouch's interest was piqued. He stood up from the bed and crossed the room to look down at her, plucking the book out from her hands and examining the front cover. "Yesterday it was philosophy; the day before it was a romance novel. Today, baby names? Will it be war tactics or poetry tomorrow? Mathematics or art?"

"Don't patronise me, Lelouch," she replied, staring blankly at him. "It won't work; I know you too well."

"Perhaps you do. Could somebody like you even bear children?" He handed the book back to her.

C.C. turned straight back to her book. "Who knows? It's nothing like that, anyway."

"Then answer my question."

"What is it this time, Lelouch?" she asked with a slight sigh. "You know more than me."

"You and I both know that's not true." He turned to stare out the window.

C.C. turned the page again. "If you say so."

Lelouch rolled his eyes and walked away from her, coming to a stop a few inches away from the window. Ants still scurried around below him, though fewer in number than before as darkness began to replace the sun's rays. He would have to go meet Kallen soon: a conversation he was both looking forward to and hesitant about.

Kallen would be the first of the Black Knights he would tell everything to. Shirley and C.C. had known since before his death, of course, and Suzaku had been the one with whom he had originally planned Zero Requiem, but he had been forced to keep Kallen in the dark. She and Tōdō were the linchpins keeping the Order of the Black Knights – and hence the public – trusting in Zero, since he was sure that Kallen would realise his motives and that Tōdō would recognise Suzaku. With Suzaku leading them on hopelessly and Schneizel sure to leave them broken, but alive, the conditions would be cleared for Schneizel to believe he was ultimately victorious.

An aeroplane flying near their building drew him out of his thoughts. "C.C., what is Geass?"

"…Coralia…Corinthia…Cornelia…Coventina…"

So she had decided to ignore him again. How like her. Persistently, he pressed on. "What is the nature of Geass?"

"What are you really asking?" She was facing him now and staring into his eyes.

"I want to know why Shirley's and Rivalz' Geasses are so different from the others I've come across," he admitted. "Every Geass' power is related to the mind. Why are those two so different?"

C.C. continued to stare at him curiously for a moment, before letting out a quiet laugh. "Every Geass, Lelouch? You are still as arrogant as ever. Of the countless people I have entered into contracts with over my lifetime, you know of only a few."

She closed her eyes for a moment, setting her book down on the ground next to her. Her arm hung limply over the side of the couch as she opened her eyes once more and stared blankly at the ceiling. "For hundreds of years, I was the only person in the world with a Code. Did you know that, Lelouch? No, I suspect you didn't. The Power of the King is rarely kind; yours is among the most powerful I have ever seen."

"The first person I ever entered into a contract with was a young farmer boy whose name I cannot remember. His Geass had the power to make things grow. Our country was barren in those days; farmers were struggling and the world was decaying from poverty. He always smiled, though, travelling from one village to the next and doing what he could. But Geass was not something people could understand in those times, either. He was killed for practising sorcery two months after receiving that power."

Lelouch made to interrupt, but fell silent as she continued.

"The second person I gave a Geass to was an aristocrat: royalty wanting to escape royalty. His Geass stopped his heart the first time it was activated, but he died with a smile on his face. Years later, I gave a Geass that blinded somebody permanently in both eyes. Another allowed an old fisherman to control the winds."

She picked her book back off the ground and dropped it again, having lost the desire to continue reading it. "But that's in the past, now."

"If you were the only person in the world with a Code, how could V.V. have received his?" Lelouch asked, still facing the window. His gaze shifted slightly, staring up at the full moon instead of the streets below. He wasn't quite ready to accept her story as truth yet.

"Geass manifests differently in every person, you know that," she began slowly. "Vance was always a special child…"

"Vance? V.V.?"

"Yes. That was his name before he took on a code. He was a Vi Britannia once, just like you," she added with a smirk.

Lelouch pretended the knowledge didn't faze him, turning around to meet her gaze. "What are you trying to say?"

"I gave V.V. his code."

"Liar," he responded immediately, ignoring the brief expression of hurt that flashed across her features. "That would have killed you."

"Such arrogance again. You never learn, do you?" she asked, seemingly amused. "I told you that Geass manifests differently in every person. In V.V. it was unlike any I had seen before."

Lelouch's eyes widened as he finally began to understand. "You're saying that V.V.'s Code was his Geass?"

"Yes, that's right," C.C. confirmed. "Charles wasn't experimenting to build an invincible army of Geass-users; he was trying to collect more Codes to power the Sword of Akasha."

'_That twisted man,'_ Lelouch silently fumed. Still, he supposed that his father's experimentation had made his plans all the more reachable in the long term. "What does this have to do with Shirley and Rivalz?"

"Who knows? Figure it out for yourself." With that, she rolled onto her side and faced the back of the couch, presumably falling asleep.

Lelouch grimaced. He'd pushed her too hard again. He'd probably have to make it up to her for that 'liar' comment earlier, too. Maybe he'd pick up a pizza for her on the way back. For now, however, he had to meet with Kallen.

Making as little noise as possible, so as not to disturb C.C., he collected the briefcase containing his Zero costume and, casting a single look back at her sleeping form, left the building.

"…Stupid Lelouch."

* * *

**Shinjuku Wrecking Yard**

Kallen waited nervously behind the small, one-room office of the wrecking yard's manager. It was 9:45 PM, fifteen minutes before Zero had requested she meet with him. In truth she had been there for over an hour already, curious as to whether or not Zero would attempt to set anything up in advance. At least, that was what she kept trying to tell herself. In reality, she knew that her anxiety had brought her there; this was the conversation that would either restore or damn not only her most sincere hopes and dreams, but also her life.

Refrain was not treating her kindly. It had been nine days since she had injected back near the base of Babel tower – that place which contained her and Lelouch's combined shame, and which had almost become a mausoleum for everything they had once strived towards. The pain was worse than ever, now. Her veins occasionally prickled to let her know that her blood was unsatisfied with her refusal to submit to their desire for her dependency, a constant ache pervading her system and relentlessly intensifying as she drew out the period of time between injections.

'_I won't go back on my word. That was the last time I will ever use refrain._ _If this doesn't save me…'_ Tears welled up in her eyes, but she fought them back as she stared up at the full moon. _'Sorry, everyone. I can't submit to that poison any longer.'_

'_At least then I won't have to deceive them about being alive any longer,' _she thought solemnly. The back of her coat crumpled against the rough brick wall as she slowly slid down to lean against it in a sitting position, the material catching for a moment and leaving a slight tear.

It had been much harder than anticipated to survive without drawing attention to herself after having her death faked. She couldn't expose her face anywhere, due to her fame as the Ace pilot of the Order of the Black Knights. Nor could she cover herself too extremely: the luxury of perfectly concealing clothing, such as cloaks and masks, was something which was not afforded to anybody in these parts who wished to fly under the radar, due to the Black Knights' vigilance in investigating suspicious figures.

Money was another issue. Shirley had given her some of the 'emergency' cash she apparently kept on her at all times, but even combined with the cash in her own wallet, it was barely enough to cover the cheapest accommodation and food until the night Zero had asked her to meet him. Seedy markets in the ghetto had been her main source of sustenance, while a poor old couple in the most poverty-stricken area of the ghetto provided the hooded figure of Kōzuki Kallen with a short-term room to wait out the last few days of refrain withdrawal in exchange for some desperately-needed cash – no questions asked.

But none of these things compared to the pain she felt from running away and leaving the Black Knights to believe that she had died. Ōgi would have taken it even harder than he had when Naoto had died. Fear and guilt had consumed her mind as she sat in her room, day after day. Every now and again she would foolishly decide to attempt to launch her own surveillance of the Black Knights, just to make sure that Ōgi wasn't going to do anything stupid.

Those thoughts were the kind that were likely to get her caught, though, so they were ruthlessly squashed. It was unlikely that she'd be able to do such a thing in her current state, anyway, so there was little for her to do but continue to hide. Ōgi had Villetta to care for him and a child to care for. Hopefully, that would be enough to keep him anchored.

For what seemed like the millionth time, she cursed her body for failing; she cursed Luciano Bradley, who had originally subjected her to refrain; and she cursed herself for not being strong enough to break free from it. If only the constant aches and pains would disappear, she could fight once more. If only she had her reflexes back, she could pilot the Guren – her Guren – again. All this time she'd been able to feel her abilities, locked away and hidden somewhere amongst the fog refrain had inflicted upon her mind. If she could just fight off refrain for a moment, she knew she could reach them once more.

More than anything, she needed the hope that Zero – no, Lelouch – could inspire within her.

"Kōzuki Kallen."

A powerful shiver ran down her spine at the booming voice of her leader. She slowly rose to her feet, silently berating herself for becoming so wrapped up in her thoughts that she'd missed his arrival completely. Any frustration she felt with herself was immediately overpowered by her own anxiety, however. There was something different about this meeting; she could feel it. It was something Zero had been missing for a long time. She knew without even looking at her watch that he had addressed her exactly as the hour struck.

Silence hung in the air as she slowly stepped around to the front of the office. He seemed to see no need to address her further, so certain was he of his ability to draw her to him. She half hesitantly, half desperately moved towards the place she remembered meeting Zero once before. The man had a flair for the dramatic, after all.

A loud click echoed around the area as two floodlights came to life – one illuminating her own position and one pointed at a figure standing regally atop the roof of an old car.

"...Zero," Kallen whispered almost reverently, feeling her knees weaken slightly in his presence.

Zero appeared to regard her for a moment before he spoke. "Kallen, it is good to see that you are doing well. Thank you for coming here tonight."

'_Doing well? I wouldn't call a Refrain addiction doing well.'_ Kallen frowned slightly, but remained silent. _'Could Shirley have not told him? She hadn't known before we last talked, but that would mean she–'_

"I have brought you here tonight because I know this is a place from your past that holds deep meaning for you," he continued, breaking her out of her thoughts. "This is the place where, years ago, you realised that you did not need an army to accomplish your goals – that if you cooperated with me I could make your dreams a reality."

"Dreams?" she repeated to herself. It was almost like he was teasing her – hinting that he could give her what she needed to throw away the crutch of Refrain once and for all, but never explicitly confirming it.

"I tell you this now because I will need you to trust me once more as you did then. It does not take a thousand men to topple an empire, so long as your sword is sharper than theirs."

"Why me, Zero? I'm useless now. Everybody knows that! I can't even pilot the Guren anymore!" Anger welled up inside her – anger at herself for not being everything Zero needed and more. She fell to her knees weakly. "I'm nothing anymore, thanks to Refrain."

"If that is how you respond, then Schneizel has truly won," Zero's voice boomed back, startling her. "Find your resolve! Remember what it was that once drove you – the dreams you have given up on. There is much to do if we are to wage this war for the world and I will need you by my side if we hope to win."

"Win?" Kallen's lip began to tremble. Zero still believed they could win. But that was impossible, wasn't it?

He didn't respond, seemingly content to allow her to process it herself.

"Can we really win, Zero?" she eventually asked, hope and defeat battling for dominance in her tone.

"We are already winning!" he proclaimed, his arms flying out to his sides until they were level with his shoulders, palms upturned. "The only thing that can kill Schneizel is his own ambition. I have given him the world and now I shall take it back!"

It was him! Every part of her screamed that there could only be one man behind that mask. A crushing force bore down on her at the thought of facing him once more, but she slowly managed to rise to her feet.

"I need to know..." she began in barely more than a whisper. "I need to know..."

She looked up, eyes blazing for the first time in many months.

"...Is it you, Lelouch?"

The silence seemed to drag on for hours as he stared at her. She stared back at first, but her conviction slowly decayed into doubt. What if she'd been wrong about Lelouch being Zero? What if it was still Suzaku again? What if it was somebody she had never met before and to whom she'd just betrayed the secret of Lelouch's false tyranny?

Just as her fear and doubt were about to overwhelm her, Zero finally moved. Kallen could only watch with bated breath as he slowly moved his right hand to the centre of his mask and grasped it firmly. She could hear the mechanism releasing in the silence of the night, but he kept it covering his face for a moment.

"What would you do if it was, Kallen?" he asked sombrely, before removing it completely.

None of her dreams – none of the hundreds of different scenarios that had played out in her head over the past week and a half since Zero had requested she attend this meeting had prepared her for the shock she felt at seeing him again, very much alive.

"Le…Lelouch…"

In an instant she had collapsed onto her knees once again, those piercing purple eyes of his driving her back to the ground with the sheer power they radiated.

The Prince – no, the _Emperor_– remained silent and still, neither a frown nor a smile marred his features.

Suddenly, something snapped within her. The questions that she had been secretly longing to ask since the moment Zero landed in front of him, sword in hand, were spilling out of her mouth in a flood of emotion.

"What are you playing at, Lelouch? I thought I understood you when you died – Planning your own death for the sake of the world. But everything was fake! You faked your death and left us anyway!" She was shouting now, eyes glistening with tears. "Why, Lelouch? We needed you! Why did you leave us? Why did you leave _me_?"

Even her knees buckled beneath her now, leaving her crumpled on the dirt, tears streaming down her face.

Lelouch watched her emotionlessly for a moment, before turning his gaze to the moon once more.

"Ah…Why indeed."

* * *

**2009 a.t.b**

**Pendragon Palace**

Lelouch Vi Britannia, 17th in line for the throne, stared unblinkingly at the marble floor as several attendants fussed over him. It was a standard procedure amongst children of the Emperor: whilst they all lived primarily with their respective mothers – Charles' consorts – they were required to periodically spend a few days living at Pendragon Palace for appearances' sake.

How often they were required to visit was at the discretion of the Emperor. Clear favourites and likely successors such as Schneizel and Odysseus would visit weekly, while lesser-known princes and princesses were required less than monthly, much to the chagrin of some of the more ambitious consorts. The likes of Lelouch, Cornelia and Clovis made the trek to the palace for the same four days of each fortnight, being lower-profile, yet still within reach of the throne.

A year ago, the timing of their visits was seemingly random. Lelouch might pass by Euphemia as he arrived at the palace, farewell Clovis two days later and be informed by Nunnally that he'd just missed Odysseus' arrival as he left his rooms for breakfast. In recent months, however, he found that their visits would often coincide with that of Clovis and the Li Britannia sisters. Schneizel and Odysseus had grown to live almost full time at the palace, their respective mothers being all too happy to allow them to gain the Emperor's favour.

He was auditioning them – that much had been clear to Lelouch for a while. For what, he wasn't quite sure yet. It was possible that he was searching for his successor, but somehow he was unconvinced of that being his father's immediate goal.

Regardless, every day saw at least a few chess games take place between the young strategic titans of the Britannian royal family. Lelouch would generally beat Cornelia, but could never overcome Schneizel. Nunnally could occasionally beat Euphemia, but Clovis would always prove too much for her. Day by day their strategic abilities were honed and potential candidates for the throne began to shine out from the rest.

The strong grew closer to Charles and the weak were gradually forgotten about, Lelouch mused. He'd always known that was what his father believed, so it came to him as no surprise. He and his father had spoken occasionally over the past few months, but their conversations were few and far between, usually containing nought but a few – admittedly very useful – chess tips. Schneizel met with the man far more often, however; on a particularly active week they might do so two or three times. It was always in private, of course, but nobody ever asked what they talked about for varying reasons – not the least of which being fear of reprisal.

Lelouch coughed as a particularly forceful attendant tugged at his cape, causing the string to dig into his neck. It was different this week. Schneizel was meeting with the Emperor every night for hours at a time, with none of the subtle mentions of such a meeting to his siblings during the day. Schneizel's chess had improved phenomenally for such a short time, too. It was as though his half-brother had suddenly become invincible: no matter how much of the older boy's defence Lelouch would ruthlessly crush, he found it almost impossible to check Schneizel's King, let alone checkmate it.

Another tug – this time on his cheek to apply some foundation close to the corner of his mouth – and he had finally had enough, jumping up and bolting for the door amid frantic shouts for him to come back. He was still a young boy, after all, and no more enjoyed wearing makeup as he did playing dolls with Euphemia, prince or not. The formal robes he was already wearing were more than enough for him to meet with his sister at any rate.

He knew that Cornelia would be there when he entered the expansive, yet Spartan room. His current status as a permanent resident of Pendragon Palace meant he was acutely aware of all comings and goings. He was the only current permanent resident in recent history, save for the Emperors themselves, but he could hardly count it as a sign that he was in his father's favour. It was more likely that the man simply didn't know what else to do with him while Nunnally was in hospital receiving treatment that would hopefully restore her eyesight and lower-body motor function.

A week ago his mother had died, leaving his sister crippled and his own mind twisted with rage. His father was the Emperor of Britannia, the most powerful man in the world! He should have been able to protect her – to at least protect Nunnally! His own chess ability had skyrocketed in the past few days, he acknowledged as Cornelia gave him a knowing nod and stood from her position reading on a couch to set up a chess set. His previously more relaxed style was quickly being overrun by a more aggressive and cunning style.

Unorthodox moves and tactics that all but the world's greatest chess masters were wary of attempting littered his regular repertoire. His sword was many times sharper and his shield was serrated, traps scattered all across the board ready to ruthlessly dismember any opponent foolish enough to spring one.

Cornelia could no longer hold a candle to him. In their first game, Lelouch took advantage of her distinctive shape and barrelled straight through her flank, his King leading the charge. The second wasn't much better, but at least she had been able to capture a few of his more valuable pieces before he checkmated her from within her own fortress.

An hour later she returned to her book on the couch and he lay down on the carpet near her, both acknowledging that they were unlikely to gain anything by continuing. A book lay open in front of him – something about Chinese military tactics – but the book itself disinterested him. Instead, several chess pieces from the games he had just played against Cornelia lay on the book's pages. Some stood up, while some lay down; a couple had even rolled off and now rested on the floor. There didn't seem to be any particular order to them, but that was the way Lelouch preferred it: he had dropped them there deliberately, after all.

Chess was a game of war, but no scenario on the chessboard could resemble war the way this could. Some pieces stood, some fell and some weren't even a part of it. Every time he looked at the model he had made, he felt an urge to stand all of the fallen pieces back up - a feeling he never got in the game of chess, where broken pieces were discarded and forgotten about, while the player's full attention was on his healthy and _useful_ pieces.

That was the problem with Britannia. Not by any means was it the only problem, but it was certainly the thing Lelouch Vi Britannia loathed the most about his country. If Nunnally's disabilities couldn't be healed, then Britannia's world would never be a world where she could survive.

Cornelia was still there when he finally looked up from his current inspiration, though she had spun around to lie on the couch facing in the opposite direction. She informed him that Euphemia and Clovis would likely show up within the next half an hour, the latter of the two having taken the former for tea upon her arrival at the palace with Cornelia. Lelouch mumbled his thanks and rolled onto his back to stare blankly at the giant portrait of his father spanning the room's entire ceiling; he and his half-sister had spent enough time together over the last few years not to require anything further of each other and to enjoy the companionable silence.

True to her word, Euphemia ran through the doorway ten minutes later and bolted towards her two siblings awkwardly, seemingly in two minds as to which she should hug first. Unexpectedly, Lelouch won out this time: the older sister who doted on her so much was almost always the first to get her attention. Question after question tumbled out of her mouth about how he was, how worried she'd been for him after hearing about what happened to Marianne and whether Nunnally would be all right. Clovis smiled knowingly at him from the doorway as Lelouch unsuccessfully tried to calm the frantic Euphemia.

Though he made a brief effort to allay his half-sister's fears, his mind was elsewhere. As he had glanced up to meet Clovis' gaze, he'd seen Schneizel passing by the doorway behind him, face resolute and steps measured. The room they were in was near the southernmost tip of the castle, where access was limited, with the Emperor's private rooms being the only other notable location beyond it.

'_So Schneizel is visiting Father once again, is he?' _Lelouch mused silently. He slowly removed Euphemia's hands from his face, the girl having realised he wasn't paying her his full attention. His older brother and father were clearly planning something and he intended to find out what it was.

"Sorry, I..." He hesitated slightly. "I have to check on Nunnally."

Euphemia gave him a kind smile as he stood and made his way to the door. Clovis gripped his shoulder for a moment and nodded as they passed in the doorway, his older brother moving towards a seat near Euphemia. He took slow steps – though not slow enough as to draw more attention – and when nobody was still looking, he turned left instead of right.

Lelouch's eyebrow's narrowed. It was subtle, but he could have sworn he'd seen Cornelia look at him suspiciously as he'd announced his exit. Had she seen Schneizel too? He was fortunate that there was so much pressure within the royal family not to interfere with the Emperor's business: even if she had seen him head towards their father's rooms or suspected him of doing so, she would be unable to act upon it. If she had seen Schneizel, she couldn't have known whether they were working together or he was spying; if she hadn't seen Schneizel, Lelouch may very well have had an appointment of his own with the Emperor.

Keeping his footsteps as close to silent as possible, he steadily moved forward and took in the enormity of this wing of the palace. Britannian Emperors had always had an eye for grandness, from their ballrooms to their private living quarters. It was as though he was steadily shrinking as he left the central area of the castle: the hallways could have comfortably fit two knightmares side by side with room to spare and the ceilings were several stories high, large chandeliers hanging at regular intervals.

He hesitantly risked a peek through two majestic white doors at the end of the corridor to make sure he hadn't accidentally caught up to his older brother. There were no staff in this area of the castle during these hours: all cleaning was done on a strict schedule to minimise inconvenience to the Emperor. Finding the room thankfully empty, he slipped through the doors and slowly closed them behind him.

This room was one of the most sacred areas in the entire palace. No journalists or photographer had ever been allowed access and it was even frowned upon for consorts and heirs to enter without their presence being requested. This was the Hall of Emperors, a private ballroom where the achievements of every Britannian Emperor to have lived were honoured.

The room itself was circular in shape, marble floor gleaming from the light entering the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking His Majesty's private gardens. At the far end of the room were two marble staircases leading up to a large balcony which encircled the room from the floor above. In the centre of the room sat a pristine grand piano, its brilliant white finish edged with gold.

But what really gave the room its name were the dozens of portraits that adorned the walls. Lelouch didn't need to count to know that there were ninety-seven in total – one for every Emperor of Britannia. It was a rule that no two portraits in the entire room were to ever be the same size. When an Emperor died or relinquished the throne, he would have his accomplishments judged by his successor and his portrait in the Hall of Emperors would be sized to reflect his worth compared to his predecessors.

Lelouch found the tradition distasteful, but would not have held such disdain for it were it not for the way that he knew each Emperor's deeds to be assessed. Never was any consideration given to how much the world – or even just the people of Britannia – had benefited from their reign; what was valued was increasing the nation's military strength, land and power. Things may have been different a long time ago, but in the past couple of centuries it was the militant and ruthless Emperors who were celebrated the most in history books and, indeed, in this hall.

But it was not this room in which he sought his answers. At the top of the staircases was another set of double doors, leading to his father's bedroom. Slowly, with feet shaking but miraculously remaining silent, he made his way to the door and crouched down beside it, thankful that it had been left slightly ajar and he could look through the crack. He couldn't see his father or Schneizel directly, but could clearly make out their flickering silhouettes on the wall against the golden glow of the fire. A chess board sat between them and, though Lelouch was unable to see which piece was which colour, the board had been reset, so he would be able to tell where they were based on their approximate position.

"Have you put any more thought into the question I posed to you last night?" Charles asked, his low growl reverberating around the room.

Schneizel hesitated for a moment. "It is a difficult question."

"It's a difficult lesson," the Emperor countered, standing from what Lelouch knew to be one of two red leather armchairs on opposite sides of a chess board. The soft clink of glass echoed slightly as one of the many expensive bottles of whiskey sitting on the mantelpiece was opened and used to fill two glasses, ice scooped from the small bucket that always sat next to the table when his father played chess.

Schneizel accepted the glass that his father placed on the table with a nod, but did not move to touch it yet. Instead he moved one of his Pawn forwards a space and the two settled into a silent, yet relaxed game.

While Lelouch was unable to see their expressions, he could tell from the board position that his father was completely in control of the game. His father's strategy seemed to be more of a test than an attempt to immediately force a surrender. Every few moves he would occasionally probe one of Schneizel's defences or cautiously spring one of his traps before reverting to a more defensive position.

Just short of twenty minutes later, Charles called a stop to their game. There were still several pieces left on each side and no check was evident in the next few moves, but he had clearly seen something that assured him of his victory should the game continue. He leant back in his seat and lifted the glass to his mouth.

Schneizel followed suit steadily after resetting the board. It was hard to tell from Lelouch's position outside the door, but it looked like he was examining the board, likely conducting his own analysis of the game before his father shared his views.

"I would like to hear your answer now," Charles said, confusing Lelouch. His had never failed to analyse a game immediately afterwards when they played together. "The most important thing you must know as a Britannian prince is how to take a dominant chess strategy and turn it into a dominant war strategy. Everything comes down to what your pieces mean to you."

Schneizel took another sip of whiskey, head tilted down towards the board. "The Rooks and Bishops are war machinery. They can cause a lot of damage and don't all move in the same ways, but the enemy can usually anticipate most moves involving them. They are not useful for sneak attacks or delicate situations."

He must have sensed approval from Charles, because he continued. "Knights are the more unusual assets at your disposal. A group of knightmare pilots, a missile your opponent isn't aware you possess, a covert operation to achieve a specific goal or even a hostage. They are much harder to predict and must be dealt with immediately by an opponent once they become aware of them."

"The Queen is, of course, the most physically powerful and regularly useful asset you possess – a third generation knightmare frame, for example." He picked up a Pawn and stared at it momentarily, before setting it back down on the board. "The Pawns are the faceless masses whose job it is to probe the enemy's defences and provide just enough resistance to allow the more powerful pieces to move defend the King without risk to themselves. They can be easily sacrificed to capture a more powerful enemy piece."

"A Pawn can become a Queen, too, but those with potential will often find themselves in the situation in which to do so of their own accord. There is no need to waste time and effort developing them personally," he added.

"A good answer," Charles growled with a pair of slow claps. "Not brilliant, but good. You have forgotten a piece, however."

"The King?" Schneizel queried serenely, sounding unconcerned that he had neglected it.

"Yes."

"The King represents myself," he answered confidently. "I am the most important piece on the board: if I die, my side loses."

Charles let out a harsh laugh. "Then why be the King?"

The gears in Lelouch's brain were spinning rapidly, as were those in Schneizel's, since he had not responded by the time Charles continued. "Some might say that the weakness of the King is his inability to move fast or far, but his true weakness is his mortality. The fact that the King can die means that the best and most powerful leaders must take on the role of the player, who cannot be harmed by any piece on the board."

Schneizel lifted his King off the board and held it in the glow of the fire, turning it around in his hands and clearly deep in thought. "Then if you can make your enemy think they've killed you by letting them kill your King, you've already won.

"That's right," Charles confirmed, clearly pleased that his favourite son had caught on so quickly. "You will make a fine Emperor one day. But before that, there is something I require."

"What is that?" Schneizel asked, perhaps a little too quickly. Then again, it wasn't every day you were endorsed by the Emperor as his likely successor."

"War," Charles replied gravely. "There are certain countries which I desire to assimilate into the Holy Britannian Empire."

Lelouch's eyes narrowed. This conversation had suddenly taken a far more sinister turn than he had been expecting.

"You are a promising heir, Schneizel," Charles continued. "Which is why I will be giving you a test, the outcome of which is crucial to my plans."

Schneizel finished off the last sip of his whiskey, seeming to have relaxed slightly. "What will the test involve?"

"In just over a year, you are to lead the invasion of Japan, a country with significant quantities of Sakuradite. You will receive the aid of the Knight of One, your choice of two of the other Knights of Round, as well as a significant percentage of my main army. If you are successful, you will retain both the services of that army and that of one of your chosen Knights of Round."

"I would be honoured, father," Schneizel asked, his silhouette quickly standing to make a low bow. "But I must ask: what of the others? Lelouch, Cornelia and Odysseus are very strong in their own rights."

Charles motioned for him to take his seat once more. "Odysseus is a strong tactician, but he is all too easily manipulated by others; he lacks the cunning required of an Emperor. Cornelia shows great promise, but she will never be on your level."

"And Lelouch?"

"Lelouch will become a brilliant strategist one day, but he can no longer lay any claim to the throne."

Schneizel sounded confused when he spoke. "Why is that, Father?

Dozens of possibilities ran through Lelouch's mind, from Charles not being his real father to obscure rulings in Britannian law. Nothing, however, could have prepared him for his father's next words.

"The injuries Nunnally has sustained are severe. She will never walk again, nor will she ever see."

Lelouch scrambled backwards on the marble floor, eyes wide in terror and too shocked to shed any tears. The bottom had fallen out of Lelouch Vi Britannia's world. Nunnally was crippled now. Nunnally would never walk. Nunnally would never see. Surely there was something his father could do for her! He had the best medical professionals in all of Britannia at his disposal. He wouldn't just forsake her completely!

"It would be a sign of weakness to our enemies for a member of the royal family to be in such a condition," Charles continued, oblivious to the raw fury building in his most dangerous son. "I have no other option other than to make full use of her while I can as a bargaining chip with other countries."

Just like that? Her own _father_ was going to give her away as a political prisoner, without a care in the world as to how she would survive? He would have stormed in that second to confront the man, but he managed to barely suppress his rage: he could do nothing for his little sister if he was caught now.

"Nunnally will never be able to survive by herself," Schneizel countered, seemingly reading Lelouch's mind. "Judging by what you mentioned before, I can only conclude that you intend to send Lelouch with her."

The Emperor chuckled. "You are correct. Any leader would be foolish to accept a broken piece alone."

"A broken piece..." Schneizel muttered to himself pensively. "Tell me, how can a leader play Chess, yet not be a King? The King is symbolic of the leader himself. The only way to kill a King is to kill the leader; how is it possible to sacrifice your King and live?"

Charles picked up his glass of whiskey and drained it completely, before setting it back down on the table in front of him. "One of my research teams has recently made significant progress on genetic modification."

"You mean cloning?" Schneizel sounded interested.

"No, something far more sophisticated. Soon we will have the power to change the very nature of a person's DNA, to the extent that, given time, their body will remodel itself based on our alterations."

"A double, then," he concluded. "That is nothing that hasn't been done before. While this method might have the advantage of being a perfect physical match, doubles are always caught out by betraying slight personality and behavioural differences. They are also notorious liabilities when forced to make decisions in situations where they cannot contact their employer. What makes your scheme any different to those that have come before?"

"Only one and a half seconds of hesitation and you came to that conclusion yourself," Charles noted. "You are correct that it is a double's actions which lead to their discovery. However, would you say the same if it was possible to completely erase who a person once was and replace everything from their personality to their memories with another's, yet ensure that they remain completely subservient to that person?"

"Such a thing is possible?" Schneizel asked cautiously.

"It is."

"Then nobody would be aware of my deception-"

"-Until it is too late," Charles finished for him. "Do you know why the King can only move one space, Schneizel? The greatest secret of Chess is that the King is at heart a Pawn. To sacrifice a Pawn means to give up one piece for a more powerful one. To sacrifice a King means to give up the world, then cut down your enemy while their back is turned."

* * *

Lelouch stared blankly at his mahogany chess board, the crackling fire before him the only thing illuminating him in the darkness of his chambers. He played against himself in an almost serene manner, casually moving pieces from both sides and dropping dead soldiers into the box to the left of his board. Periodically, he would angrily wipe the remaining pieces onto the floor and reset the board with brand new ones from a box to his right.

Did his father want something more than to capture land? There was no way a man like Charles Zi Britannia would give anybody else not only the key to invincibility, but also the potential to usurp him without something enormous in return.

He ground his teeth.

The most likely scenario was that he considered Schneizel a threat to his reign and wanted to make sure the boy had a weakness he could exploit when the danger of a coup d'état arose. Yes, that had to be it. By planting the idea within him at a young age – while he was yet to lead an army or control any land of his own – and giving him a seemingly flawless plan, Charles could almost certainly rely on him to use it. His father was very cunning and very ruthless, something Lelouch was realising more and more by the day. If Schneizel used a double, then he would be protected from the entire world, but could be easily taken out by anybody who knew of it. Charles could kill him in a heartbeat if he got too powerful.

Lelouch began to chuckle quietly, once again wiping the board. He slowly began to place the White pieces on the board: eight Pawns, two Rooks, two Knights, two Bishops and a Queen. The King he put to one side; Schneizel would be his ultimate enemy – his elder brother was far too shrewd to not see Charles' plan and eliminate him. The Black King joined his enemies on the board, but instead of a wall of Pawns protecting it, eight Black Queens stood proudly against the White army.

If Schneizel refused to play by the rules of chess, then so would he.

His father may have stripped him of his right to claim the throne, but he would never need it. He would take this rotten country by force and reshape it into something worth existing.

He placed the White Queen back on the board.

'_Thank you, father. Thank you, brother. You have given me what I need to destroy you.'_

* * *

**Shinjuku Wrecking Yard**

Kallen bowed her head as Lelouch finished, fists clenching handfuls of dirt. No part of his narrative meant anything to her. She didn't play chess, nor did she study war tactics, but she couldn't help but feel some part of her fears assuaged. In her mind there was never any explanation that could adequately justify his actions, but at the same time there was no explanation that could not. She had come prepared to believe anything he told her, so long as it allowed her to regain her hope and give her a chance to once again wage war against Britannia.

Yet still, she yearned to understand him – to trust him.

"So everything was a lie," she began, looking up to meet his gaze. "You fought against us, killed our people and took over the world for nothing!"

Lelouch stared unflinchingly in the face of the raw fury in her eyes. "You once told me to play my role as Zero to the fullest – to deceive everyone until the very end."

"Schneizel had removed himself from the board, leaving me with no King to attack. He has always refused to be the King or any other piece, ensuring that he is always the player and pulling the strings from the shadows without ever being in any danger. Schneizel is a coward, Kallen. He would never feel secure enough to become King and claim his spoils unless Charles and I were long since dead and buried; the best result anybody could obtain against him until then was a stalemate."

"Then everything up until now –" Kallen began.

"–Has been to bring Schneizel out into the open, yes."

Tears welled up in Kallen's eyes. "Then…Shirley…Absolute Animation…"

"Shirley told you more than she let on to me, then," he muttered, more to himself than to her. "Your instincts are correct. Shirley's Geass can create bodies out of nothing and animate them to do as she wishes. When active, she can see through one eye in her own body and through one eye in the animated body's. As you may have suspected, it was used to fake my death."

"How can a mirage hold a gun, or sit on a throne, or be…" she faltered slightly "…stabbed so realistically? All that blood…Wouldn't Shirley have died too?"

"There is no mirage; the bodies Shirley can create with her Geass are real. It does cause Shirley some pain, but it is a fraction of what the body would truly experience. I am concerned that it may worsen if her Geass evolves, though."

"But Lelouch, you could create entire armies with this! You could defeat Schneizel!"

He shook his head. "There are some limitations. While the bodies can be touched, prodded or interacted with in any way, they cannot themselves interact with anything else, save in minor ways such as sitting on a chair or holding a gun. Attempting to operate a knightmare or any other sort of heavy technology would cause their muscles to give out; Shirley does not have such a strong command over them. She is also only able to control one at a time, though I would again expect this to change if the Geass spreads to her other eye."

Kallen opened her mouth to reply, but the hope she had regained at hearing the initial explanation of Shirley's Geass had been brutally stripped away from her. Nothing came out.

"I no longer have any use for the Order of the Black Knights. It was necessary that they suffer absolute defeat at the hands of Schneizel. There is no hope for them to launch a successful rebellion now; this truth alone is the only way we can possibly achieve victory."

"Lelouch! What are you playing at?" she screamed furiously. "The Black Knights are the only people in the world who could ever possibly hope to fight against Britannia! Become our leader again and lead us to war! Don't abandon us now, Lelouch!"

She collapsed into the dirt once again, tears pouring from her eyes. "…Don't abandon _me_ now, Lelouch."

"Stand up, Q-1. Your allies need you. Japan needs you. The world needs you! The Order of the Black Knights may not be necessary any more, but you still have a role to play. Weigh out justice! Regain the purpose you have lost. Join me as we fight with everything on the line! Together we will reclaim the world that Schneizel has stolen, Kozuki Kallen: Ace of the Black Knights"

Slowly, she dragged herself to her feet, trying to control her breathing. Her eyes still glistened, but now her tears were tears of joy – tears of hope. With this she could break refrain's hold over her. With this she could fight for Naoto's dream. With this she could free Japan.

"Yes…Yes, Zero!"

* * *

**Room 277**

**Tokyo Settlement International Hotel**

"It's done, then?" Shirley asked quietly as he entered. The lights were off in the room and it had been cleaned immaculately. She was sitting on a pillow by the window, staring absently into the night sky as the solemn moonlight lit up her features. C.C. was nowhere to be seen.

He sat down on the bed, trying not to look at her. "Yes."

"Don't cry for me, Lelouch," she said with a smile, giggling quietly as he tried to conceal wiping a stray tear from his eye while he thought she wasn't watching.

Slowly, she got to her feet and walked over to stand in front of him, touching a finger to his chin and using it to raise his head so their eyes met. "I knew your heart could never truly belong to me. You have never lied to me about that. I'm just glad I could spend a year pretending you were mine."

Her body shivering, she leant down to place the last kiss she would ever give upon the lips of Lelouch Vi Britannia and quietly left the room.

"…Forgive me, Shirley."


End file.
